Daily prayer will continue in Canada legislature despite petition to drop it

Saskatchewan Premiere Brad Wall has said daily prayers will continue in the legislature despite calls to have it stopped.

Wall said the Christmas message he gives every year, which is also being petitioned to either be stopped or be made "religiously neutral," will be delivered as usual for as long as he is premiere.

The daily opening prayer has been a part of the routine in the legislature. However, the Centre for Inquiry Canada, said it invades other people's beliefs because it tells them what to pray.

"No one is saying that Christians can't practice their own faith, or Muslims or Hindus or any religion there is. We're fine with people practicing their own faith, but where we start to have concerns is when people come along and tell others what they should or shouldn't believe," David Richards, member of the organization, said according to CBC News.

Richards said the petition was backed by some Christian pastors who agreed that the government should not be telling people how they ought to pray. Richards suggested that, to keep the legislature neutral, people should simply hold a moment of silence instead of pray.

Wall has remained firm in pushing through with the daily prayer, saying that there had been no complaints issued about it. He said "a few people" are asking to have the opening prayer dropped, but those people do not represent the majority of Saskatchewan.

The opening prayer will continue to be a part of the proceedings, he maintained.

"I don't want to see the prayer changed," Wall said, according to another CBC News report. "And I would work against seeing the prayer removed from the legislature. I think it is important and it should continue."

The issue of having opening prayers at government meetings became a much debated issue when the municipal council in Saguenay, Quebec faced a legal battle against complaints to cease the prayers before meetings. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the municipal council should stop having opening prayers in their meetings.