The City of Kamloops must revoke its pending approval of a municipal tax exemption for a religious anti-abortion group — the so-called “Pregnancy Care Centre Society of Kamloops” – says the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada and the BC Humanist Association.
At the September 1 City Council meeting, Councillors in Kamloops will vote on a motion asking staff to draft Permissive Tax Exemptions bylaws for 2027-2031. These bylaws will grant municipal tax exemptions to places of worship and not-for-profit organizations that own property and have applied for an exemption. Council must adopt the permissive tax exemption bylaws by October 31.
The “Pregnancy Care Centre Society of Kamloops” stands to gain tax breaks of over $35,000 from 2027 to 2029 – about $11 to 12K each year – based on “Social Services” they deliver. However, the centre has no legal existence under that name. It changed its name many years ago to Hopewell Clinic & Pregnancy Centre and is registered as a charity under that name, with the primary purpose of “advancement of religion.”
“Hopewell is an affiliate of Pregnancy Care Canada, which is an umbrella group for unregulated pregnancy centres,” said Joyce Arthur, Executive Director of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC). “Affiliates must abide by religious and Biblical directives, including hiring only Christian staff and volunteers, not referring for abortion or contraception, and proselytizing to clients.”(1)
Hopewell’s website says it has nurses on staff who “provide pregnancy options support and are certified to provide STI testing and treatment.” Arthur said: “This is very troubling. The centre’s affiliation with Pregnancy Care Canada means that nurses at Hopewell cannot refer clients for abortion even if a client needs one for health reasons. This not only poses health risks for clients, it’s a violation of medical ethics and best practices. We also fear that nurses working at anti-abortion centres like Hopewell may be providing misinformation or biased counselling to clients(2), as this is a common practice in unregulated pregnancy centres across Canada.”
“Homeowners and small businesses shouldn’t be on the hook for subsidizing a religious, anti-choice front group,” said Ian Bushfield, Executive Director of the BC Humanist Association. “Council has a duty of religious neutrality and to uphold the human rights of its residents. The city must act now to ensure Hopewell doesn’t benefit from a tax exemption or any public recognition as a supposedly trusted service.”
Notes
- According to the 2017 CORE Documents of the Canadian Association of Pregnancy Support Centres, formerly the Christian Association of Pregnancy Support Centres, renamed in 2019 to Pregnancy Care Canada.
- Hopewell’s Abortion page states: “Our team will provide you with abortion procedure information, risks associated with abortion, and alternatives to abortion.” This indicates that clients will likely be confronted with mostly negative information about abortion risks, as well as attempts to dissuade them from abortion.
More background
Despite being a charity with the primary purpose of “advancement of religion,” the Hopewell Clinic & Pregnancy Centre is almost entirely focused on education and support services, and some alleged medical care. Its website gives few hints about its religious purpose.
In ARCC’s position paper about why anti-abortion groups should not have charitable tax status (see page 5), Hopewell is given as an example of a charity that apparently does not adhere to its charitable purpose and has not updated its purposes. Both of these failures contravene requirements of the Canada Revenue Agency.
This is not the first time that the City of Kamloops has supported the Hopewell centre.
In 2023, Hopewell received $6,656 from a City of Kamloops Social and Community Development Grant, which is meant to address social problems, despite Hopewell operating as a faith-based anti-abortion centre that does not provide appropriate referrals.
More recently, the city included Hopewell on the Kamloops Interagency Support Table (KIST*) in November 2025. A Freedom of Information request submitted by the BC Humanist Association found that the city has no documented process or policy for vetting or selecting KIST participants, raising questions about the validity of its selections.
ARCC designates Hopewell as an anti-choice agency that will not refer clients for abortion or contraception. This amounts to a conflict of interest for KIST – Hopewell could be assigned to intervene with pregnant clients in crisis who will not be given neutral reproductive health referrals. Also, Hopewell could receive sensitive personal data despite there being no governance mechanism to screen for ideological conflicts in service delivery. The Hopewell “clinic” is unlicensed and unaccredited, and therefore not subject to any patient confidentiality requirements.
(*KIST is a “collaborative, multi-agency initiative designed to provide rapid, coordinated support to individuals and families experiencing acutely elevated risk—situations where harm is likely without timely intervention.”)