Canadian town rescinds Christian Heritage Month proclamation after atheist makes similar request

Bob LeDrew asked the town of Cobourg, in Ontario, to follow its own policies or give him equal treatment

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Last November, just outside of Toronto, the Cobourg town council members approved a resolution designating December as “Christian Heritage Month.” It wasn’t a particularly controversial thing to do. A resident requested it, it seemed harmless given that it was purely symbolic, so the council members said yes.

When atheist Bob LeDrew saw that, he figured he could play the same game, so he asked the council to designate March 23 as “Atheist Awareness Day.” But that request was denied specifically because, he was told, the town’s policies say that proclamations involving “religious organizations or the celebration of religious events”… “will not be approved.”

The hypocrisy seemed obvious. Why was the town honoring Christianity but not atheism? Either Cobourg needed to abide by its own policies or accept his request to honor atheists.

So LeDrew submitted a formal request to present his case to the council. He wrote that “a third of Canadians identify as non-religious, a doubling in 20 years. With council declaring Christian Heritage Month in December 2024, it should recognize the large proportion of non-theists that exist.”

An email sent to council members (by a third party) highlighted the hypocrisy and urged officials to be consistent moving forward:

Council chose to ignore this policy last year to declare Christian Heritage Month.

Mr. LeDrew notes that when he requested that March 23 be declared Atheist Awareness Day, staff rejected this request, citing the policy.

It is evident that Staff is aware of the policy, so why the selective enforcement. Christian Heritage Month clearly contravenes Town policy LEG-ADM21.

Staff and Council should admit to the error and reaffirm that Staff and Council will abide by the policy

Last week, LeDrew spoke to the council members and made his case. He said the council screwed up when they approved the Christian proclamation, that the case to accept Atheist Awareness Day was on stronger footing because it wasn’t a religion (and therefore not subject to the rules prohibiting religious proclamations), and that issuing any kind of pro-religion statements was a slap in the face to the increasing number of non-religious people in the community.

Bob LeDrew speaks to the council remotely (screenshot via the Town of Cobourg)

He added that he actually agreed with the town’s policy. He simply wanted them to enforce it:

“I’m in strong agreement with that policy,” he told council. “I think government is best done as a secular organization.” LeDrew said the Christian Heritage Month designation opened the door for other religious proclamations and flag raising requests.

“They are now going to feel that they have a right … if one has the right, then we all have the right.”

There was a brief discussion after that (with no sound in the posted video, unfortunately), but you can see the council members admit in real time that they screwed up when they approved the Christian Heritage proclamation months earlier.

Watch the video below (purposely sped up during the first 15 seconds) and you can see the members agreeing, not to approve LeDrew’s request for Atheism Awareness Day, but to rescind the approval for Christian Heritage Month moving forward.

LeDrew told me he sees this as a victory, not for himself but for the town as a whole:

To be frank, I didn’t much care if March 23 was proclaimed or not. My real goal was to make it clear that going against the town’s policy opened the door to something that is really counterproductive, and that they should have made a decision that followed through the logic of the policy (which if you read it is quite sensible.)

So for them to effectively table my request (which will likely die on the vine) and at the same time vote to rescind the [Christian Heritage Month] proclamation—which I didn’t realize had a five-year duration!—felt like the best possible outcome to me.

I believe that council will be far more thoughtful should some other proclamation request come before them in the future. And that’s all I can ask for.

He added that making his statements to the council was nerve-racking, but he felt he was “treated with respect and courtesy by both staff and elected officials.”

It’s really incredible how a simple nudge regarding equality was all it took for the council members to realize their mistake and correct themselves moving forward. To be clear, rescinding the Christian proclamation isn’t anti-religious. It’s an acknowledgment that the proclamation never should have been approved in the first place. The members understood after an atheist asked for similar treatment that Christian privilege blinded them to what they had done months earlier.

Hopefully now, they won’t make the same mistake in the future.

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