The City of Trail will keep issuing proclamations, but it won’t proclaim Christian Heritage Month.
Council received a request last month from a city resident asking that December be officially declared Christian Heritage Month, similar to heritage months that have been declared nationally for other faiths.
But councillor Nick Cashol first asked that the city review its policy around issuing proclamations.
In a report to council this week, city staff found that from 2019 to 2024, an average of seven proclamations have been granted, plus five more this year.
They found Rossland and Nelson both have policies to decline all proclamations, while Castlegar does something similar, though by council resolution rather than by policy.
Staff suggested adopting a blanket refusal policy. “With limited staff capacity and the absence of clear criteria in the current policy, there is neither sufficient time nor a consistent method to evaluate requests without the risk of appearing discriminatory or causing unintended offense to specific groups, organizations, or individuals,” the memo read.
On top of that, the memo said, in some places proclamations “have proven to be divisive, creating tension and conflict within the community,” although no specific examples were cited.
Even if council adopted such a policy, it would not stop council from making one-off exceptions, said Tracey Butler, the general manager of corporate administration. She pointed to the city declaring Robert Hampton Gray Day in Trail in August.
Cashol said he felt the new policy would “promote fairness,” and avoid “unnecessary messy situations for staff and council.”
But councillor Bev Benson said she appreciated proclamations as a “cost effective way to show engagement with constituents.” She said proclamations required “minimal resources” but could “deliver high impact by recognizing important causes and cultural events. Everyone has the right to say no, but I think they can carry real weight.”
The motion to turn down proclamations as a default position was defeated in a tie vote, with Cashol, mayor Colleen Jones, and councillor Terry Martin in favour and Benson and councillors Paul Butler and Thea Hanson opposed. (Councillor Doug Wilson was absent.)
Had council amended the policy, it would not have taken effect until later this month anyway, leaving council to decide what to do about the two outstanding proclamation requests from last month plus two new ones.
Council unanimously adopted proclaiming Indigenous Survivors Day, Lung Cancer Awareness, and Adoption and Permanency Awareness Month, but they struggled with Christian Heritage Month.
Cashol said that while he is a Christian himself, he was concerned that government bodies must remain religiously neutral under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Benson said she didn’t remember any other recent requests for religious proclamations and preferred “the separation of church and state for this topic.”
Hanson also said it was unusual to grant a proclamation request from an individual rather than a group.
The motion to grant the proclamation failed 4-2, with Martin and Jones in favour and Benson, Butler, Cashol, and Hanson opposed.
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