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Supreme Court says: No more prayers at council
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
open its meetings. Mayor Jeanne Charlebois noted that there is no specific mention of God in the prayer and she does not believe it goes against the Supreme Court’s ruling argument. «I would say it’s more a reflection before we start the meeting,» she said during a Wednesday phone interview, noting that she has never heard any complaints about the practice. «But I’ll bring it to council. It’s up to council to amend the procedural bylaw.» Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, Rus- sell Township council had considered two options for revising its procedural bylaw during its April 13 committee of the whole session. One was to retain the brief prayer offered at the start of council meetings.The other was to replace it with a short statement of values for guiding council members in their decisions. Council decided to retain the prayer but the revised procedures bylaw does not take effect until April 21 so there is time for more review and revisions if council chooses. Mayor Leroux, during an interview Wednesday, noted that council may discuss the situation somemore during its next regu- lar session April 20. «We’re going to have administration contact legal,» he said. «But ours was a non- denominational prayer. It will be a decision of council how they want to proceed with it.» Other mayors were unavailable for com- ment at press time. Eight-year legal battle Alain Simoneau, a Saguenay resident,
Prayers have no place at municipal council meetings, at least not in public. That is the latest ruling on the subject from the Supreme Court of Canada. Many municipal councils in Eastern Ontario, including several in Prescott-Rus- sell along with the counties council, offer up a brief prayer for guidance as part of their normal opening ceremony. But the Supreme Court of Canada issued a ruling April 15 against the practice, in response to an eight-year legal battle that began in Saguenay, QC, against the practice of that municipal council of opening its sessions with a 30-second prayer. It’s a decision that now leaves local muni- cipal councils and the counties council with the question whether to drop prayer altoge- ther from the official openings of their public meetings, or replace it with somethingmore generic, neutral and inoffensive. Stéphane Parisien, chief administrator for the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR), is now scratching his head over the whole situation. “Our prayer does not relate to any particu- lar religion,” said Parisien during aWednes- day afternoon phone interview. “I’mnot sure what we’re going to do.” Parisien noted that the Association of Municipalities of Ontario may issue a directive or recommendation on the issue. Hawkesbury council has a brief prayer to
When themayors of Prescott-Russell gather for counties council sessions, they always open the meeting with a brief, neutral prayer. The question now is whether even that is allowed under a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling.
began the court battle with a complaint at first about themayor and councillors praying in public at city hall. He also complained about the presence of several religious sym- bols in the building, including a standard ornamental crucifix and also a SacredHeart of Jesus icon. The case continued to the Supreme Court of Canada. The court issued its ruling on April 15, stating that elected officials do not have the right to recite prayers at munici- pal council meetings and that Saguenay mayor Jean Tremblay was promoting his own religious beliefs to the detriment of
others, which does breach the responsibility of the municipality or any other version of the State to remain neutral. The Supreme Court has ordered the prac- tice of prayer at publicmeetings of council in Saguenay to stop and for the city andMayor Tremblay to pay Simoneau $33,200 in com- pensatory damages, punitive damages, and costs. The court chose not to make a ruling regarding the presence of religious symbols in municipal buildings and just limit the scope of its ruling to the issue of prayer at public council meetings.
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