BC Schools must be strictly secular and non-sectarian
Did you know that BC requires every public school to be "strictly secular and non sectarian"?
In fact, this requirement has been in place since the School Act was first introduced in 1872.
Read moreThe Supremacy of God and the Rule of Law
The Canadian constitution does not have a formal establishment clause separating church and state as the USA does, so can Canada be considered a secular country? In this presentation, BC Humanist Association Executive Director Ian Bushfield argued that Canada’s unique legal and political history, coupled with a forward-looking Charter of Rights and Freedoms and judiciary, has resulted in more robust protections for the nonreligious and state neutrality than presently exist in America.
Read moreHumanists call for end to master agreement with religious hospitals
In light of a series of traumatic stories documenting patients forced to transfer from St Paul's Hospital and other religious healthcare facilities in BC to access a legal medically-assisted death, the BC Humanist Association is renewing calls for the province to end its agreement with sectarian health associations.
Read moreBCHA Reiterates Call To BC Government To Regulate Addiction Recovery
Trigger warning: Sexual assault
This month, shocking news about alleged sexual assault and cover-ups once again drew attention to inequalities and lack of accountability associated with addiction recovery programs in BC.
Given this unfortunate string of events, we are renewing our 2018 call to the Government of BC to ensure every patient seeking treatment for a substance use issue has access to secular, evidence-based treatment options, by:
Read moreStudy Finds “Crisis Pregnancy Centres” mislead and manipulate
NATIONAL – A new study of unlicensed pregnancy counselling centres across Canada finds that they often conceal an anti-abortion agenda and provide medical misinformation to pregnant clients.
Co-developed by the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) and the BC Humanist Association (BCHA), the study reviewed websites of the nearly 150 so-called crisis pregnancy centres (CPCs) across Canada to identify the presence of misleading information, and compared the results to a similar 2016 study conducted by ARCC to better understand changes over time.
Read moreChristian anti-choice group spent $35k opposing MAID
A campaign claiming to speak for "the most vulnerable" has spent tens of thousands of dollars on Facebook ads in the past three months and is being funded by a group of anti-choice healthcare professionals, according to a new analysis by the BC Humanist Association.
Read moreSaanich council to debate ending automatic tax exemptions for places of worship
On Monday, January 23, Saanich council will debate a motion calling on the province to eliminate the statutory exemptions for places of worship.
The motion, "transition all statutory tax exemptions for places of worship to permissive tax exemptions," is being brought by Councillor Teale Phelps Bondaroff and would direct the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) to lobby the province for the change.
Read moreHumanists reiterate call that Budget 2023 enshrine the duty of neutrality
In its response to the Ministry of Finance's pre-Budget 2023 consultation, the BC Humanist Association is again asking the government to recognize its duty of religious neutrality and end special privileges for religious organizations.
The BCHA previously made these calls to the House of Commons' Finance Committee.
Read moreWhy Baby Boomers Turned From Religion: Shaping belief and belonging, 1945-2021
By Prof. Abby Day (Goldsmiths, University of London); Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Victoria.
Many members of the BC Humanists generously responded to my request in the summer of 2020 to help with interviews for my latest research project on Baby Boomers and religion. Baby Boomers, born post-WWII and defining the 1960s’ cultural revolutions, were the last generation to be routinely baptised, confirmed and taken regularly to mainstream, Anglican/Episcopalian churches. Their parents raised them to be church-attending, and yet questioning semi-conformists, enabling them to become ex-religious and to raise the Millennials to be the least religious generation ever.
Read moreBCHA signs on to 10 Actions of BC Climate Emergency Campaign
At its December 13, 2022 meeting, the Board of Directors of the BC Humanist Association endorsed the BC Climate Emergency Campaign's 10 Actions to Confront the Climate Emergency.
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