Brampton councillor thinks city is blurring line between church and state

Thestar.com
December 4, 2019
Graeme Frisque

Brampton wards 3 and 4 Coun. Martin Medeiros thinks council is focusing too much on the wrong priorities and is blurring the lines between church and state in the process.

Medeiros -- a practicing Catholic -- raised the issue at a recent council meeting following delegations from church groups calling on council to declare December “Christian Heritage Month.”

”I just think we have to be very cautious of the encroachment and the way that we’re really blurring the lines,” said Medeiros in an interview. “Ultimately, constitutionally we are a democratic system with a separation between state and religion. As much as we respect all religions, that’s not our function and right now I think we’re blurring the lines.”

Medeiros pointed to one of the delegations by Brampton resident Sam Kunjicka, who while referencing Christian historical figures and quoting scripture, argued the removal of Christian doctrines from government was to blame for everything from poor education and crime to an “economical and moral decline.”

“The government and courts are trying to systematically remove from law the spiritual principles that the founding fathers of Canada stood for,” said Kunjicka, who was advocating for bygone ubiquitous religious interference in government as much as for a Christian Heritage month.

Medeiros, who supported the unanimously successful motion despite his concerns, said he felt compelled to do so after council had already paid tribute to other religions -- including a recent controversial decision to rename part of Peter Robertson Boulevard after Sikh religion founder, Guru Nanak.

“When we stopped the practice of the Lord’s prayer it was based on the 1999 constitutional challenge. The (court) talked about the fact that these religious expressions had no business in government,” he said, adding he feared the optics and a similar backlash if he didn’t support the request.

He’s also concerned council is setting a dangerous precedent and backing itself into a corner to recognize any and every faith or cultural group looking for some kind of taxpayer-funded public recognition.

“Now we’ve opened the doors, so what stops us from another religion, another sect or some other religious group that comes to city hall and wants their heritage month? How do we justify not celebrating their heritage month? When does it stop?”

In early November, both Medeiros and wards 7 and 8 Coun. Pat Fortini told council they believed the city was focusing too much on ceremonial initiatives, which they believe is overloading staff and distracting from council’s core mandates and responsibilities.

Council has referred more than twice as many matters to staff in than previous councils, in its first year, many of which are focused on cultural and religious recognition.

“As much I appreciate all these celebrations and religious recognitions and so on -- and I understand these are meaningful to some people -- we’ve lost focus on what our mandate is,” said Medeiros. “It takes away our attention and focus on how we improve customer service at the municipality, how we ensure finding efficiencies. The time and effort on all these sorts of religious and cultural things to a certain degree is political pandering.”