Mouvement laïque québécois v Saguenay (City)
| Mouvement laïque québécois v Saguenay (City) | |
|---|---|
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| Hearing: 14 October 2014 Judgment: 15 April 2015 |
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| Full case name | Mouvement laïque québécois and Alain Simoneau v City of Saguenay and Jean Tremblay |
| Citations | 2015 SCC 16 |
| Docket No. | 35496 |
| Prior history | APPEAL from Mouvement laïque québécois v Saguenay (City) 2013 QCCA 936 |
| Ruling | Appeal allowed. |
| Holding | |
| Prayers of a religious nature recited during or before city council sessions breach the state's duty of neutrality and may constitute discrimination. | |
| Court Membership | |
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Chief Justice: Beverley McLachlin Puisne Justices: Rosalie Abella, Marshall Rothstein, Thomas Cromwell, Michael Moldaver, Andromache Karakatsanis, Richard Wagner, Clément Gascon |
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| Reasons given | |
| Majority | Gascon J, joined by McLachlin CJ and LeBel, Rothstein, Cromwell, Moldaver, Karakatsanis and Wagner JJ |
| Concurrence | Abella J |
Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay (City) 2015 SCC 16 is a Canadian administrative law case, dealing with the effect of a prayer held at the beginning of a municipal council session on the state's duty of neutrality in relation to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. The decision upheld an earlier decision by the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, ordering the Saguenay council to stop recitation of the prayer and rendering the by-law supporting such prayer inoperable, as well as imposing $30,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. The ruling has implications for all levels of government in Canada, and several cities announced changes to drop the use of prayers before municipal meetings.
The City of Saguenay mayor Jean Tremblay (2002 to 2015) opened public city council sessions by reciting the following prayer:
Tremblay would also make the sign of the Cross while saying "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit," in the Roman Catholic tradition. Council chambers in La Baie and Chicoutimi, two communities amalgamated with Saguenay, featured a crucifix and a Sacred Heart emblem.
In 2006, Alain Simoneau, an atheist who regularly attended council meetings, asked Tremblay to stop the prayers, claiming that they infringed on his freedom of conscience. When Tremblay refused, the Mouvement laïque québécois (MLQ), a non-profit organization supporing secularization, filed a complaint with the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse on his behalf. In 2008, Saguenay's city council passed a by-law amending the language of the prayer and scheduling the prayer before the official opening of council sessions; however, the councillors continued to act as before. That same year, the Commission adopted a resolution indicating its intention to exercise its discretion not to seize a tribunal, despite the fact that it believed that there was sufficient evidence to prove discrimination, leaving the possibility for the plaintiff to represent himself before the Human Rights Tribunal of Quebec, as provided by section 84 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.
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