Vancouver council candidate’s prayer post draws calls to keep politics secular

Vancouver City Council candidate Lorraine Lowe, who is running with ABC, posted on X and Instagram as advance voting began. She wrote: “Father God, here we are. Advance polling. Your Word says, ‘we wrestle not against flesh and blood.’” Lowe added a prayer that people remember this is ultimately a spiritual fight for truth, love, humility and light, rather than a fight against people, and asked God to protect her team and everyone they love.

The post is prompting calls to keep church and state separate. The B.C. Humanist Association said the explicitly religious language was surprising. Executive director Ian Bushfield said he did not think that kind of message resonates with people. He added that politicians can be religious, but they need to serve everyone, and he hoped all elected officials understand that.

ABC has previously faced calls to keep municipal politics secular. Prayers were included at Mayor Ken Sim’s 2022 inauguration, prompting the B.C. Humanist Association to threaten legal action. In a unanimous 2015 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada found that opening council meetings with prayers was unconstitutional. The City of Vancouver later determined that it had breached the state’s duty to uphold religious neutrality. Bushfield said ABC, as the party that brought prayer into council meetings, should tread more carefully on religion and politics.

A 2025 Research Co. poll found B.C. had the country’s largest proportion of residents who are agnostic, atheist or irreligious, making it one of Canada’s most secular provinces. Research Co. president Mario Canseco said the number of B.C. residents who do not identify with a religion is significantly higher than elsewhere in the country. Borrowing a phrase from the 1990s, he said British Columbians are “losing their religion.” He said Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies do not have the same situation, and there is no comparable area in the United States.

ABC and Mayor Sim defended Lowe’s post. Sim called it “absolutely incredible,” saying Vancouver is a diverse city. He said he has spent more than eight years visiting gurdwaras, mosques, synagogues and churches, and that the city celebrates culture and different faiths. He said he fully supports the post and is proud of Lowe.

In a statement to CTV News, an ABC spokesperson described the post as “a personal prayer at the end of a long campaign.” The official campaign period began Sept. 19. The statement said that read in full, the post asks for truth, love and humility and plainly says politics should never be a fight against people; it added that most Vancouver voters could agree, whatever their beliefs. Asked whether the party approved the post, ABC said it did not, adding that it wants candidates to be authentic and true to themselves, that politics could use more of that, and that the party stands with Lowe. Lowe was not made available for an interview.

ABC’s media team also suggested that CTV News do a story about a candidate running with another party who posted “anti-Canada rhetoric” on X. Dr. Carmen Celestini, a lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Waterloo, said Lowe’s post may be polarizing for some and embraced by others. She said it could appeal to people who strongly believe God plays a role in politics.