City councils 'prayer-free' across B.C., humanist association declares

Andrew Gulevich of the Parksville Fellowship Baptist Church delivers a blessing at Parksville city council's inaugural meeting on Nov. 7, 2022.

A humanist group has declared British Columbia's municipal councils "prayer-free" after receiving assurances from a lone holdout community on Vancouver Island.

Lawyers for the City of Parksville told the B.C. Humanist Association that Mayor Doug O'Brien has pledged not to include religious prayers in his next inaugural council meeting, should he be re-elected in 2026.

Parksville's lawyers said if another candidate win's the mayoral race, staff will advise that person of the city's "obligation to ensure religious neutrality," and "strongly recommend" that prayers not be included at the meeting.

A 2015 decision from the Supreme Court of Canada found opening council meetings with prayers to be unconstitutional, and the BCHA has been auditing compliance with the ruling across the country for the past several years.

"Nine years after the (Supreme Court) ruling, we’re thrilled to be able to declare B.C.’s municipal council meetings prayer-free," said BCHA executive director Ian Bushfield, in a statement.

"We will remain vigilant as we continue playing Whac-A-Mole with local politicians who privilege religion over non-religion in the public sphere."

While the group has not identified any recent instances of prayers being included at regular council meetings, members found that seven municipalities did include them at their inaugural council meetings following the 2022 election.

The BCHA reached out to each community last November requesting a commitment to keep meetings prayer-free going forward, and said only Parksville and Vancouver initially refused.

Each has since backed down in the face of legal threats from the association, which have now been withdrawn.

Reached on Friday, the Parksville mayor confirmed his commitment but said he did not have any further comment on the matter. 

Vancouver's lawyers acknowledged last month that the prayers that took place during Mayor Ken Sim's inaugural council meeting breached the state's duty to uphold religious neutrality, and promised the city would comply with its constitutional obligations in the future.

Prior to 2022, the last time prayers were included in an inaugural Vancouver council meeting was when Sam Sullivan was sworn in as mayor in 2006.

Plans for inaugural meetings are generally determined by the incoming mayor.