CITIES MUST REFLECT ALL
The Supreme Court of Canada, in ruling that a Quebec city must stop reciting a Catholic prayer at the beginning of council meetings, has sent a strong message that citizens of all faiths (or no religious faith at all) deserve government representation that is free from discrimination — that tradition doesn’t trump inclusion. We applaud this decision.
On Wednesday, the court found that the recitation of prayers at Saguenay municipal council “was above all else a use by council of the public powers to manifest and profess one religion to the exclusion of all others.
“A neutral public space free from coercion, pressure and judgment on the part of public authorities in matters of spirituality is intended to protect every person’s freedom and dignity, and it helps preserve and promote the multicultural nature of Canadian society.”
That this issue reached the Supreme Court at all speaks to our country’s uneasiness and inconsistency when dealing with religion in the public sphere. In 2011, the Quebec human rights tribunal ruled that Saguenay must end the prayer and remove a crucifix from council chambers because they sent the message to religious minorities that “there is still a gap between them and the dominant religious culture conveyed by the political authorities.”
Things should have ended there. Instead, Saguenay Mayor Jean Tremblay, in a campaign he argued was aimed at protecting Quebec’s Roman Catholic heritage (and which used the city’s website to raise money for the cause), eventually convinced the Quebec Court of Appeal that the rights tribunal had overstepped its bounds. That court found the prayer didn’t compromise the city’s religious neutrality, and if it infringed on others’ moral values, that infringement was trivial. Meanwhile, Saguenay had earlier instituted a more “neutral” prayer and gave people time to leave the room if they were uncomfortable with the process.
So, let’s review: Religious paraphernalia in council chambers, prayers before work, using government property for a pro-Catholic campaign and asking people who are uncomfortable participating in another religion’s traditions to leave the room at a public gathering place.
It’s bizarre that anyone could argue such activities didn’t compromise Saguenay’s religious neutrality. One wonders if a mayor so dedicated to his Catholic faith would feel at ease running a city that kicked meetings off with a Jewish, Islamic or Hindu prayer.
The fact is, a council chamber is a place of business, not a church. Everyone should be free to practise his or her religion, so long as it doesn’t trample the rights of others.