At its April 19, 2021 meeting, the Board of Directors of the BC Humanist Association adopted a motion joining calls for greater data transparency from governments and decision makers to provide for greater accountability in their response to COVID-19.
The BCHA joins calls by scientists and journalists for the government and public health officers to provide more information on how COVID-19 is affecting British Columbians.
"While we are being told our public health response is based on science," said BCHA Executive Director Ian Bushfield, "science is based on transparency and not blind faith."
Our response to COVID-19 demands transparency from decision makers
“Humanism advocates the application of the methods of science and free inquiry to the problems of human welfare. But Humanists also believe that the application of science and technology must be tempered by human values.”
Science and free inquiry require transparency and accountability from decision makers, therefore the BCHA supports calls by academics, journalists and others for the Government of British Columbia and BC Centre for Disease Control to provide “timely, accurate, detailed and frank information about the pandemic.”
Further, we know from many jurisdictions that COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on frontline workers and individuals from marginalized communities. British Columbia must urgently adopt the recommendations of the BC Human Rights Commission on collecting disaggregated data to support efforts to identify and combat systemic racism, particularly in light of the pandemic.