M.D. ends use of prayer to start council meetings after BC advocacy group gets involved
The last prayer was done at the April 9 regular meeting of council. Image: M.D. of Bonnyville YouTube.
Before the M.D. of Bonnyville gets to business and adopts their council meeting agenda, they’ve historically began with a prayer. That is, until recently.
The M.D. has stopped this practice after pressure from the BC Humanist Association earlier this spring.
The group, which looks to provide a voice for humanists and atheists, writes reports that look at municipalities who invoke prayer or religious themes during governance meetings.
The BC Humanist Association says they sent a letter to the M.D. in late March, and by the end of April, the M.D. stopped saying an opening prayer.
A 2015 ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada, Mouvement laïque québécois v Saguenay, found that the use of a prayer before a municipal council meeting interfered with the duty of neutrality in freedom of conscience and freedom of religion.
“They were using the Supreme Court against us,” Reeve Barry Kalinski told Lakeland Connect.
“I asked council, which way do you want to go? The decision was they wanted to not pray right now. So that was the decision of council. I went with their wishes. But for myself, I was like, I’m good to go. I’ll go against court.
“I believe in praying for my council and praying for the area and the M.D and my workers and the residents. That’s the way I believe, but I won’t put my people in jeopardy. I see some of their point too. If you don’t believe in God, I understand that.”
Prayers were used in council meetings during stretches of previous M.D. councils.
Advocacy works, group says
@bchumanist We don’t know that the MD of Bonnyville ended council prayers because of us. But they conveniently happened to stop including prayers in their council meetings right after we emailed them about it. And they haven’t included prayers since we published The Last Municipality Standing that named them as one of eight Alberta municipalities that included prayers in their council meetings. #alberta #bonnyville #prayers
♬ original sound – BC Humanist Association – BC Humanist Association
The BC Humanist’s report, called The Last Municipality Standing, identified eight total Alberta municipalities that either used a prayer in their inaugural council meeting in 2021, or continue to use them in regular meetings.
According to their report, these include: the M.D., Camrose County, Cardston County, Chestermere, Flagstaff County, Magrath, Medicine Hat, and Pincher Creek.
“Advocacy works. We’ve seen time and again that a local government will violate the Supreme Court’s precedent until they’re called out on it,” said Ian Bushfield, Executive Director, BC Humanist Association on a written story about the Bonnyville situation.
“In many smaller communities, it can still be risky for someone to stand up and object to these practices, which is why we’ve continued to do this work.”
According to their website, the BC Humanist Association looks to “provide a community and voice for Humanists, atheists, agnostics, and the non-religious of Metro Vancouver and British Columbia since 1982.”
They have written similar reports about local governments in Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
“I believe in God and I’m not gonna force you or anybody to believe the same way I do,” said Kalinski. “I respect everybody else’s wishes as well.”
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