On April 15, 2015, the Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada released their decision in Mouvement laïque québécois vs the City of Saguenay. It ended a nearly nine-year battle between atheist Alain Simoneau and the City's Mayor over whether prayers could be said before a municipal council meeting.
The Justices were unanimous: The prayers violated the state's duty of religious neutrality, as guaranteed by the right to freedom of religion and conscience under the Canadian and Quebec Charters of Rights and Freedoms.
As we've shown in The Saguenay Project, this ruling set off a wave of municipalities ending their practices. Major centres like Calgary and Ottawa quickly changed their procedural bylaws and set to ensure future meetings were compliant.
However, the response was not uniform. Many smaller communities seemingly missed the memo. Others forgot to update their procedures for inaugural meetings. A few, including the City of Winnipeg, chose a path of open defiance - arguing the facts didn't apply to their situation.
When we've pressed these communities, invariably, they've conceded that these actions breached the Supreme Court's clear language. This is what happened when we challenged the prayers included in the City of Vancouver's 2022 inaugural council ceremony.
In recognition of the importance of that decision and the value of state religious neutrality to fostering a diverse and inclusive society, we're calling on municipalities across the country to proclaim April 15 "Religious Neutrality Day" in recognition of the tenth anniversary of the fateful Saguenay decision.
We've launched a tool for you to send a quick email to your mayor and council requesting such a proclamation.
In particular, our supporters have alerted us to a growing trend of local governments declaring December as "Christian Heritage Month." At the very least, we expect municipalities that took the time to make that proclamation will also reflect on the importance of religious neutrality.
Or perhaps some might follow Cobourg, Ontario, who rescinded all future Christian Heritage Month proclamations after local atheist Bob LeDrew asked for a World Atheist Day proclamation.
In any case, we look forward to celebrating the Saguneay decision's tenth anniversary later this spring. We will have more to come.