Religious Neutrality Day celebrates the anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Mouvement laïque québécois vs the City of Saguenay. It was launched by the BC Humanist Association (BCHA) in 2025 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of this landmark Supreme Court ruling. The holiday celebrates the importance of state religious neutrality in Canada and advances efforts to support secularism.
The Saguenay Decision
On April 15, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada delivered its unanimous verdict, ending 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. The Supreme Court explained that “true neutrality presupposes that the state abstains from taking a position on questions of religion” (para. 132), and that religious neutrality is a democratic imperative (para. 75).
As a result of this ruling, municipal councils are precluded from opening meetings with prayers.
Eternal Vigilance
Despite this decision, the BCHA’s Saguenay Project has documented dozens of examples of local governments continuing to include prayers in their regular and inaugural council meetings across Canada. For example, in our most recent survey of Ontario municipalities, Open for Unconstitutional Business, we identified 156 municipalities that opened their 2022 inaugural meetings with prayers, and nine municipalities that opened their regular council meetings with prayers.
Our supporters have also alerted us to a growing trend of local governments declaring December as "Christian Heritage Month." In one instance, the Town of Cobourg, ON, rescinded its Christian Heritage Month proclamation after a resident requested an Atheist Awareness Day. If municipalities recognize Christian Heritage Month (or Islamic Heritage Month or any other religious celebrations), they should also recognize the importance of Religious Neutrality Day.
In that spirit, and building off our success last year, we are launching a call for Religious Neutrality Day Proclamations for April 15, 2026. But we need your help to make it happen.
Religious Neutrality Day Proclamations
Here’s how it works: We need you to ask your local government to proclaim April 15th as Religious Neutrality Day.
A municipal proclamation is an official declaration issued by a municipal council and/or mayor that formally recognizes a specific day, week or month that is considered significant to the local community. These proclamations are largely symbolic, aiming to raise public awareness, commemorate occasions, celebrate achievements, or honour groups or individuals.
Our goal is to celebrate state religious neutrality and remind local governments of its importance. We are particularly interested in getting Religious Neutrality Day proclamations from those councils that have issued religious proclamations in the past.
Leave your details on that form and then you'll be forwarded (after a second) to our municipal proclamation guide. Follow those steps to request a proclamation from your community and let us know how it goes!