The Lord's Prayer will no longer be said at the opening of Tobique Valley, New Brunswick, council meetings, following legal challenges from the BC Humanist Association (BCHA) and concerns raised by local residents.
In June, two residents reached out to the BCHA for support after their council refused to end the longstanding practice of opening meetings with the prayer. The BCHA had identified Tobique Valley as one of the few municipalities in the province that still opened meetings with a religious practice following the 2015 Supreme Court of Canada decision that deemed the practice unconstitutional.
The BCHA wrote to the District on June 23, asking that the practice be ended or the matter would be forwarded to legal counsel. While the District has yet to reply to the BCHA's letter, they held a special in camera council meeting on July 16 to receive legal advice and prayers were absent from the agenda of the July 20 regular council meeting.
Instead, the meeting opened with a statement from Mayor Aaron Jones that the practice has been ended.
Now as we move on, this would be the spot where we'd normally be saying the Lord's Prayer but I've prepared a statement: After careful consideration, the council of the District of Tobique Valley, in consultation with our legal counsel, has decided to no longer recite the Lord's Prayer at the opening of council meetings. This decision has been made to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Mouvement llaïque québécois v Saguenay, which found the recitation of prayers at the local municipal council meeting breaches the municipality's duty of religious neutrality and infringes upon the freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
(clip from the District of Tobique Valley's livestream)
Ian Bushfield, Executive Director, BC Humanist Association responded:
We extend our thanks to Mayor Jones and the Tobique Valley council for choosing to make their District's meetings more inclusive and welcoming to their citizens who are not religious or don't believe government should entangle itself with religion.
Through The Saguenay Project, the BCHA continues to monitor municipal compliance with the Supreme Court of Canada's decision. It remains ready to support local residents when they want to challenge unconstitutional practices.
Bushfield:
Defending the state's duty of religious neutrality shouldn't be up to local residents. We commend those with the courage to stand up for what's right but we know it also often comes at the cost of online harassment and ostracization from one's community. Groups like the BCHA will step in so no one has to face social consequences for asking their local government to follow the law.