Newfoundland and Labrador’s municipal council meetings are the most secular in Canada, according to a new study from the BC Humanist Association (BCHA).
As part of The Saguenay Project, the BCHA has been auditing municipal compliance with the 2015 Supreme Court of Canada ruling in MLQ v Saguenay. In its latest report, Secular Shores, released today, the BCHA’s researchers reviewed available records from the 62 municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador with populations over 1,000.
While Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest level of religious affiliation in Canada, the review found no current regular or inaugural council meetings that included prayer - a first in Canada.
Only one opening prayer was identified at the 2021 inaugural meeting of the Town of Bonavista. However, the Town’s 2025 inaugural meeting did not include a similar prayer.
“Newfoundland and Labrador is the most secular province we’ve studied, even though it has the highest rate of religious affiliation in Canada. That tells us a strong faith community and a religiously neutral government can go hand in hand,” said the report’s lead author and BCHA Legal Policy Researcher Sarah Fowler. “Municipalities here are already showing the rest of the country what compliance with Saguenay can look like.”
Following the publication of the report, the BCHA is continuing to investigate the practices in other provinces and challenging municipalities to uphold the constitution. In July, following the publication of its New Brunswick investigation, Godless Serenity, the District of Tobique Valley ended its practice of opening every meeting with the Lord’s Prayer.
“These results were surprising to me,” said BCHA Executive Director Ian Bushfield. “In every other province we’ve found at least a handful of examples of prayers in council meetings but Newfoundland and Labrador is truly setting an example for the rest of Canada.”
Bushfield encourages anyone concerned about religion in their government to get in touch with the BCHA.
