Meeting days, prayer and remote attendance among proposed changes to council procedures

“Since then, legal developments, including a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada decision, have reinforced the importance of religious neutrality in municipal proceedings,” City Clerk Savannah Price told council.

“A moment of reflection would provide an inclusive opportunity for individuals to reflect in a manner of their choosing.”

In 2024, the Saguenay Project listed Prince Albert as one of four Saskatchewan municipalities that continued to open meetings with a prayer despite the Supreme Court ruling.

Moose Jaw, North Battleford and Pinehouse were the other three, but North Battleford and Moose Jaw have since removed their prayers. Pinehouse told paNOW it has kept a prayer on its agenda.

Councillors were generally not in favour of moving meetings from Mondays to Tuesdays, with some speaking against the change. The rationale was that councillors would have an extra day to review agendas, which are normally made public on the Thursday before a Monday meeting.

Instead, councillors suggested publishing the agenda a day earlier.

Reducing the number of times councillors can participate remotely was also discussed.

Coun. Bryce Laewetz spoke against any changes, saying he had seen no evidence that remote attendance affected participation.

“Have any of those attendances caused any problems? Any technical issues that weren’t immediately corrected?” he asked.

“I understand that they’re longer meetings, they’re more intense, there are more people involved and we’re going through very detailed numbers, but budget is a committee, just like this is a committee. Why are we excluding one specific committee?”

Coun. Tony Head supported Laewetz’s position that digital attendance should not be limited.

He said life sometimes gets in the way and that should not mean residents of a councillor’s ward are left out of the debate.

Some other councillors disagreed, saying remote attendance should happen only when absolutely necessary.

Coun. Darren Solomon has previously spoken against remote attendance at council meetings, particularly budget meetings and reiterated his stance.

“I do think that even though that is an option these days, it should be there for the most necessary times,” he said. “All of us are elected, we know the meeting dates well ahead of time and we should be trying to meet our obligations that way.”

Mayor Bill Powalinsky said he saw the question as one of how to provide residents with the most effective representation. While he supported allowing some remote attendance, he said it should not become too frequent.

“I feel strongly that we need to take a look at what our residents deserve and expect of us in terms of effective representation, and our most effective representation is here in these chambers,” he said.

Coun. Blake Edwards said remote attendance was acceptable for one or two regular meetings, but budget meetings should be held in person.

“In person is critical,” he said, adding that the obligations package available to people planning to run for council specifies in-person attendance for budget meetings.

The proposed changes will return to a future meeting as separate motions, allowing council to adopt the changes it supports.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Meeting days, prayer and remote attendance among proposed changes to council procedures

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