Moncton reverses menorah and nativity scene decision, says it acted 'too quickly'
Mayor Dawn Arnold issued an apology on Monday afternoon
Moncton council voted unanimously Monday afternoon to resume displaying the menorah and nativity scene outside city hall, after three days of national controversy.
Several councillors apologized for their votes in secret last week, and members of the public in the gallery applauded after the vote.
The vote means the menorah and nativity scene will be set up in the plaza before Thursday.
Irwin Lampert, a former president of the Tiferes Israel Synagogue in Moncton and a retired provincial court judge, attended a meeting last Thursday where members of the Jewish community were told of the decision to not display the menorah this year.
Lampert told reporters after Monday's vote that he was pleased with the reversal.
"Quite often you make a decision with unintended consequences, and I think that's what happened here," he said.
"I don't ascribe any ill motives to the council or the mayor. I think it was simply a bad decision made in haste."
"We invited ... the mayor and council to the lighting of the menorah Thursday evening. We're very, very happy about it."
Earlier in the day, following a swift outcry, including a petition with more than 6,000 signatures, Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold released the city's first public statement since its decision not to allow a menorah to be displayed.
Arnold said in the statement that the city "acted too quickly."
"The City wanted to be more inclusive toward our community by repositioning these faith symbols; however, we obviously fell short in this transition," the statement said.
"We apologize if our actions showed a lack of support toward any members of our community."
The original decision was made behind closed doors on Nov. 27. The mayor's office and city communications director Isabelle LeBlanc previously ignored requests for comment.
Because the original vote was held in private, it's unclear how each councillor voted.
Arnold told reporters after Monday's meeting that she personally supported the decision last week.
"At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do," Arnold said. "Obviously, since that time we've got a lot more clarity and we've rectified the situation."
A second vote Monday by council calls for the city's social inclusion committee to consult religious communities on how to display religious symbols on city property.
The votes followed presentations from several members of the public, including Lampert, calling for last week's decision to be reversed.
Shawn Annis, a pastor with Faith Christian Fellowship in Moncton, said the decision to not display the menorah was extremely insensitive, particularly given the timing.
Several councillors expressed regrets.
Coun. Daniel Bourgeois said "mea culpa" to everyone in the room and watching.
"I sincerely apologize for my relative incompetence in this file," Bourgeois said.
"I just wanted to say, from the bottom of my heart how sincerely sorry I was voting the way it went, and I certainly support the change tonight, getting back to the right thing to do," Coun. Marty Kingston said.
Coun. Bryan Butler, who opposed the decision to not display the menorah, said earlier Monday that the public response was unlike anything he had seen before.
"I would say not just [from] the province and Canada and maybe even across the world — we've been getting emails. I've never had this many emails about any other topic since I got on council 2016. So people are really upset at this," he said.
Coun. Dave Steeves, who made a statement on Facebook opposing the decision, presented the motion to reverse the decision.
"I'm all for religious celebrations and there's a lot of sensitivities around the season right now, and that's what makes the timing of this decision of the council so poor," Steeves said.
"We're only days away from Hanukkah, and we're weeks away from Christmas ... and it's obviously upset a lot of people because of the ill-timed decision."
Both Steeves and Butler expressed support for the city's Jewish community. Neither commented on what took place in the original meeting and why it was not done in public.
The decision, according to a statement released by Moncton's Jewish community last week, cited separation of church and state as the rationale.
While the menorah and nativity scene were not set up, Christmas ornaments such as a wreath and angels can still be found on city hall property, an inconsistency community members said was indicative of discrimination.
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With files from Shane Magee