Mayor apologizes over prayer at council
Mayor Jim Diodati says he’s sorry if anyone was offended by the recital of a prayer during Monday’s public inauguration ceremony for Niagara Falls city council.
He apologized in a statement released Thursday, saying “the inaugural swearing-in ceremony of the new city council is a special event. Like at weddings or funerals, we reach for ceremonial elements that help make it special, to elevate and separate it from the norm.”
The event, held at the Gale Centre with about 125 people watching, also included a non-denominational prayer recited by Rev. Chris Kulig.
Diodati and the eight councillors were given the option of being sworn in on a bible or to affirm their oath without a bible.
In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada declared the recital of prayers before public meetings infringes on people’s freedom of conscience and religion.
“The state must instead remain neutral in this regard,” the court said in its judgment.
In his statement, Diodati said: “I would like to offer an apology to anyone who may have been offended by this. I was pleased with the inaugural ceremony and proud of the event and the way it was put together.”
Diodati noted this was the first time the city has had to conduct a swearing-in ceremony since the Supreme Court ruling. He said he believes city hall received one complaint. He also said other inauguration ceremonies across Ontario this month have featured prayers, drum circles and proclamations, and that prayers are read before each sitting of the Ontario legislature and the House of Commons.
At Fort Erie’s inaugural earlier this month, three separate Christian prayers were read by different local religious leaders.
The Supreme Court ruling in 2015 ended an eight-year legal battle between an atheist and secular-rights organization and the city of Saguenay, Que.
The city was ordered to stop the prayers, and it and mayor Jean Tremblay were ordered to pay $33,200 in costs and damages.