Public prayer at City of Saskatoon event 'disrespectful' but doesn't violate Human Rights Code

The Saskatchewan Human Rights commission has dismissed a complaint by a Saskatoon man dealing with public prayer.

In 2012, Councillor Randy Donauer offered a brief Christian prayer before a City of Saskatoon volunteer appreciation banquet.

One of the volunteers, Ashu Solo, was offended, and lodged a complaint with the commission. Solo, an atheist, said that there should be a separation between religion and the state, and that the prayer, "made him feel like a second-class citizen."

However, while the commission ruled that Solo had legitimate grounds to file a complaint, the prayer didn't violate his rights.

The ruling by Chief Commissioner David Arnot noted that the City of Saskatoon doesn't have a practice of praying at city council meetings, and that a prayer wasn't given at banquets held in subsequent years. He also noted the prayer was relatively short.

Ultimately, Arnot ruled that there was no evidence that, "the City of Saskatoon had a goal of promoting Christianity at the expense of other belief systems."

However, the decision goes on to say that the prayer shouldn't have happened.

"The recitation of a Christian prayer at this event represents poor judgment. It was disrespectful and insensitive to a multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-theist audience," read the decision. "The decision to incorporate a Christian prayer ignored this reality."

In 2013, council voted to stop a motion to use a non-denominational greeting in place of prayer.