Muslim MLA OK with Christian prayer in legislative assembly

The province’s first, and only, Muslim MLA has no problem with a Christian prayer taking place in the legislative assembly.

Earlier this week the Regina chapter of the Centre for Inquiry brought a petition to the legislative building calling for an end to prayer before government proceeding begin.

The group wants Premier Brad Wall and his government to be secular, prompting a debate on the separation of church and state.

When Saskatchewan Party candidate Muhammad Fiaz was elected last month as the Regina-Pasqua MLA, much was made about him being the first ever Muslim elected to such a position in Saskatchewan.

“I think we should keep the prayer; it is a blessing,” Fiaz said Tuesday, adding the prayer is a tradition.

Fiaz says it doesn’t matter if the prayer being recited comes from the Old Testament, New Testament, Quran or Guru Granth Sahib.

“The majority of the people agree with it,” he said. “I totally agree that we should keep the prayer.”

In part, the petition was a response to a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that the municipal council in a Quebec town could no longer open its meetings with a prayer. In a unanimous decision, the top court ruled reciting a prayer – in this instance, a Catholic one – infringed on freedom of conscience and religion.

At the time, Wall said the opening prayer at the legislature would remain because the ruling did not apply to provincial legislatures or Parliament.

Wall also said he had not heard a concern about the prayer and “that’s why I don’t think there’s any particular call for it to change.”

With a petition now waiting at the legislature, Wall said the prayer is important and he would work to keep it.

Rules and procedures of the province’s legislative assembly say “the Speaker shall read prayers every day at the sitting of the Assembly before any business is entered upon.”

It’s expected the opposition NDP will raise the issue of prayer in the legislative assembly sometime after government returns later this month.

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