The BC Civil Liberties Association has today launched a challenge to the assisted dying bill that became law earlier this month. Under the restrictions passed by the government, 25-year old Julia Lamb is not able to choose to end her intolerable suffering.

Yesterday a Vancouver woman came forward who had been approved to have an assisted death under the Carter decision but has lost that option as she does not qualify under the new law.

Meanwhile, Christian doctors in Ontario are threatening access with a legal challenge to that government's requirement that doctors provide an effective referral. One of the Christian doctors told The Globe and Mail, “I think the patient is of greater value than their preference.”

It is abundantly clear that the law has failed to protect Canadian's right to personal autonomy and those who value suffering more than human dignity are going to continue to fight against choice.

The secular community must step forward to make the arguments in favour of compassion and choice. Help make sure that we're able to keep up this fight by donating to the BC Humanist Association today.

Evolution is a fact.

Evolution is so established as a scientific fact that I’m not actually going to spend time proving that here. Instead you can go read entire databases debunking anti-evolution myths.

So it should be fair and uncontroversial to say that something like Biblical creationism, which offers an alternate and incompatible hypothesis for the diversity of life, is a religious myth, a story or even a superstition.

But apparently doing just that crosses the line for some people.

Yesterday we were at Car Free Day on Commercial Drive, raising awareness about our work and our recent data on the size of the non-religious community in BC.

Gord Leslie & Ian Bushfield at Car Free Day Vancouver on Commercial Drive.

We had a lot of great conversations with people throughout the day. The ones that stuck with me were about the need for supportive communities for families with young children and for secular ceremonies.

While we're still working to provide more family-friendly programming, we have recently appointed our first Humanist Officiants who can help recognize important life events. Please feel free to contact any of them or refer your friends.

Last month, following news of wildfires forcing the evacuation of the Alberta city of Fort McMurray, the BC Humanist Association arranged a fundraiser for the Canadian Red Cross.

Members came forward and quickly donated over $2000 in a few days toward the relief efforts. Another donor, who had promised to match every donation up $5000, decided in the end to donate the full $5000, making our collective contribution to over $7000.

Each and every one of those dollars was then matched by the Government of Canada, representing an additional $14,000 to support the thousands of individuals and families affected.

In total, the Canadian Red Cross was able to raise over $125 million from individuals, governments, community groups and companies. They have since produced a report giving a one month update on where those funds have gone.

Thank you to everyone who donated. Your compassion has made a real difference in this crisis.

Image credit: Wikipedia

This has been an incredible week for the BC Humanist Association.

On Monday, we announced the results of our latest poll with Insights West. We found that:

• 70% of British Columbians are non-religious - up from 64% from 2013,
• 26% do not believe in a higher power - up from 20%,
• 70% oppose public funding for private religious schools and
• majorities oppose property tax exemptions for religious groups.

On each of the issues we surveyed, the public is increasingly on our side.

Then we learned that Abbotsford school district "will no longer distribute the Gideon Bible or other religious materials to students."

This victory only happened because of the pressure that we put on the district to end the practice.

Our efforts are getting noticed. Just this week we've been featured on CBC Vancouver, the Vancouver Sun, Roundhouse Radio, CFAX Victoria, Spice Radio and more.

We are making incredible gains and winning important battles but there is a lot of work still ahead of us.

There are few words that I can add to what has already been said about the tragedy in Orlando.

I'll simply echo this comment from the British Humanist Association:

We must always stand up to hate. Whatever its motivations. And now more than ever, we have to think and reflect on everything we set out to achieve: a better world, informed by values of reason and empathy, love and kindness, and the courage to stand up to hate.

This summer, the BC Humanist Association, CFI Vancouver and members of the local skeptics community will once again be marching in the Vancouver Pride Parade to show our solidarity with the LGBTQ community. Everyone has the right to live free from hatred and persecution.

This is a historic day for compassion, dignity and choice. As of today, Canadians may request assistance to end their life with dignity. The era of suffering as a noble ideal is over.

Despite the federal government's fear mongering, there is no legal vacuum. This morning the Government of BC gave the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC's clear and compassionate guidelines "the weight of law." This means British Columbians can now request their doctor's assistance to end their suffering. Similar policies have been put in place across the country.

You can read more about these policies and what we've asked the Senate to amend in the government's proposed assisted dying bill.

What if there was only one law school in BC?

This question, raised by the justices of the BC Court of Appeal, underlies the importance of the case over this past week.

From Wednesday through Friday, I sat through the hearings in the case of Trinity Western University vs the Law Society of BC. The BC Humanist Association – alongside the Canadian Secular Alliance – was one of the interveners in the case. I live tweeted much of the case from @bchumanist and you can see those tweets here. Also check out #TWUlaw and the @TWULawSchool account for more reactions.

The following is a rough transcript of the report I posted on our podcast on Friday afternoon. You can listen to that here.

These are of course, just my impressions and opinions. I’m not a lawyer and as the BCHA intervened in this case, I’m clearly not impartial either.

So let’s dig into the background first.

While we're in favour of freedom of religion, that freedom has limits.

We only need to look to some of the so-called religious freedom acts in the USA to see the danger of letting religious freedom trample over the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and atheists.

That's why we're intervening in the BC Court of Appeal case over the proposed law school at Trinity Western University later this week. We need to put a clear limit on what is and isn't protected by religious freedom.

In the factum our lawyers helped us develop, which I highly encourage you to read, we argue that studying law is not a religious act protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that requiring all students - including non-Christians - to obey an evangelical Christian ethos is religious compulsion.

I'll be at the courthouse for the hearing from Wednesday to Friday and if you can't make it, follow the proceedings on Twitter under #TWUlaw.

By Terry S. Kogan, University of Utah

For years, transgender rights activists have argued for their right to use the public restroom that aligns with their gender identity. In recent weeks, this campaign has come to a head.

In March, North Carolina enacted a law requiring that people be allowed to use only the public restroom that corresponds to the sex on their birth certificates. Meanwhile, the White House has taken an opposing position, directing that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. In response, on May 25, 11 states sued the Obama administration to block the federal government from enforcing the directive.

Some argue that one solution to this impasse is to convert all public restrooms to unisex use, thereby eliminating the need to even consider a patron’s sex. This might strike some as bizarre or drastic. Many assume that separating restrooms based on a person’s biological sex is the “natural” way to determine who should and should not be permitted to use these public spaces.

In fact, laws in the U.S. did not even address the issue of separating public restrooms by sex until the end of the 19th century, when Massachusetts became the first state to enact such a statute. By 1920, over 40 states had adopted similar legislation requiring that public restrooms be separated by sex.

So why did states in the U.S. begin passing such laws? Were legislators merely recognizing natural anatomical differences between men and women?