June 27, 2016 Newsletter

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.

3000 sign petition to repeal Canada's blasphemy law

Last week, we joined the other major secular and freethought organizations across Canada to launch a petition calling on Parliament to repeal Canada's blasphemy law. You can read more about the importance of repealing this anachronistic law on our website.

Thanks to your overwhelming response, we achieved the 500 signatures needed to force the government to respond in just 8 hours. We now have over 3100 signatures with representation in every province and territory, including over 680 from British Columbia.

But without a groundswell of support the government could easily dismiss the petition. We must try to make this the most popular petition on the government's e-petition site.

If you haven't already, please sign the petition, and then share it with your friends and colleagues.

Simply click to share the petition on Twitter and to share it on Facebook.

Click to share the petition on Twitter and to share it on Facebook.