Mumtaz Qadri’s appeal of his murder conviction for assassinating the governor of the Punjab has been rejected over the massive objections of Islamist fundamentalists in Pakistan.  Islamists claim that the murder was justified because the governor was trying to eliminate anti-blasphemy laws.

CBC has the details of today’s Canadian Supreme Court victory for Dying with Dignity. This historic ruling represents a victory for compassion over blind adherence to outmoded “suffering is good for the soul” ideology. While it has been clear to an overwhelming majority of the Canadian population for a long time now, this decision makes it clear in law that it is NOT a criminal act to help a friend or loved one end pointless suffering in the manner of the patient’s clearly expressed choice.  The spurious slippery slope arguments put up against this concept have now failed in law as they have failed in the public debate. This is a Good Day for human progress.

It was an honour and privilege for me to be present with representatives from BCCLA and supporters to hear the Supreme Court ruling early on Friday morning. We initially received a short message stating that the appeal had been won. An overwhelmed silence ensued, not applause or joy. We needed to hear more. Josh Paterson called in shortly afterward to verify the ruling, and to let us know it was unanimous! 9-0!

This past week, Dying With Dignity (DWD) announced that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has annulled its charitable status. The CRA had been auditing DWD’s political activities and ruled it was wrong to grant the organization charitable status when it was first registered. This news follows a string of recent audits of charities, which started in 2012 when the Harper Government sought to crackdown on charities they worried were getting too political. Under Canadian law, a registered charity cannot devote more than 10% of its resources (money and time) to political campaigning and cannot support or oppose a particular politician or political party.

Hopefully by now you’ve had a chance to read our press release and statementon the proposed Trinity Western University law school.

The position statement is to be ratified at the next Board meeting – next week – so exact wording may change, but there’s a consensus among the Board that we should be taking a stand on this issue.

It was another sunny afternoon for our fourth annual march in the Vancouver Pride Parade.

This year we had our largest contingent yet, with 35 marchers who came from Chilliwack to Whistler to the Sunshine Coast. Here’s some photos I managed to take during the day.

About 20 years ago, I obtained a ministry in the Universal Life Church, a somewhat infamous church in Modesto, California that issues ministries to anyone for the asking, with the most minimal possible ethical guideline of “do what is right.” Though accompanied by a good deal of incoherent, mystical, vaguely Christian theology by its founder, the ministry affords its communicants complete freedom of conscience.

In January, it came to our attention that Trinity Western University, a private evangelical university in Langley, was applying to have an accredited law school. The Canadian Council of Law Deans expressed their opposition to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, which the BC Civil Liberties Association rejected in favour of arguments for the freedom of religion. At the time, our previous Board considered the issue and opted to defer to the BCCLA’s position, though no formal motion was taken (to my recollection).

A story from Jill Harrington, one of our members of the late Dr. Henry Morgentaler.

Glenn Hardie lets us know that another long-time member of the BC Humanist community has died.