Fundy Albert to reconsider adding prayer to municipal meetings
Some residents of Fundy Albert, in southeastern New Brunswick, have asked the municipality to reconsider a recent decision to include a prayer before each council meeting.
Mayor Bob Roshon said the municipal council will look at the matter at the next general council meeting on March 7.
Jeff Jonah, councillor for Ward 4 of Fundy Albert, put forward the motion to include a prayer at last week's meeting.
He had been involved with one of the communities that combined to form Fundy Albert and they always said the Serenity Prayer, he told Information Morning Moncton.
"After the amalgamation, leading up to the amalgamation, I've been asked by many people, you know, if this was going to be a practice taken to Fundy Albert," said Jonah. "And yeah, I definitely wanted to see that in Fundy Albert."
Roshon voted against the motion, bringing up a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled that a prayer at the beginning of city council meetings in Saguenay, Que., violated the charter right to freedom of religion, but the motion passed anyway.
Jane Chrysostom, a resident of Fundy Albert, said she's grateful there were opposing voices to the motion.
"I agree that there is no place in council chambers for religion and should be a place of neutrality," said Chrysostom in an email. "I wrote a letter asking for the motion to be rescinded, which was acknowledged."
The Fundy Albert decision is in contrast to some other municipalities in New Brunswick that have moved away from prayer as a part of council meetings or never had one.
Derek Pleadwell is the mayor of Arcadia, which includes the former villages of Gagetown and Cambridge Narrows. He said he was involved with the Gagetown municipal council for around 12 years.
In an email, Pleadwell said that prayer has not come up at their current council meetings, nor was it a practice with the former Gagetown council.
Mireille LeBlanc is a staff member with the Town of Beaurivage. She said Richibucto, one of the communities that merged to form Beaurivage, used to have a general prayer before council meetings around five years ago.
However, it was eliminated "due to the general public having so many different views and religions."
The Town of Salisbury also does not conduct a prayer before council meetings according to Austin Henderson, chief administrative officer, but the Village of Salisbury used to do it.
Henderson said that a prayer had been a procedural by-law of the former village, but it was not included in the town's by-laws, which came into effect Jan. 1.
Jonah said he remains in favour of saying a prayer before council meetings and knows of people who are planning to send letters in support of the practice. He doesn't plan to change his vote at the next meeting in March.
The mayor said he doesn't think his vote will change either.
"Well, diversity is important and I think we need to be inclusive as a council," said Rochon. "We also need to reflect the interests and needs of the entire community."
