Yesterday we were at Car Free Day on Commercial Drive, raising awareness about our work and our recent data on the size of the non-religious community in BC.

Gord Leslie & Ian Bushfield at Car Free Day Vancouver on Commercial Drive.

We had a lot of great conversations with people throughout the day. The ones that stuck with me were about the need for supportive communities for families with young children and for secular ceremonies.

While we're still working to provide more family-friendly programming, we have recently appointed our first Humanist Officiants who can help recognize important life events. Please feel free to contact any of them or refer your friends.

On Friday, Bill C-14 received Royal Assent and became law in Canada. The bill was the government's response to the Carter ruling that struck down Canada's prohibition on medical assistance in dying.

While the bill provides important safeguards to doctors, nurses, pharmacists and family members who assist a suffering Canadian to die with dignity, the bill's eligibility criteria will limit access to those whose "natural death is reasonably foreseeable."

Senators, arguing that this restriction was neither compassionate nor constitutional, had removed the phrase in an amendment. However, the Liberal Government used their majority in the House of Commons to reintroduce it and a majority of Senators then agreed to maintain the restriction.

The final law does include Senate amendments that restrict family members from helping if they were a beneficiary of the person requesting an assisted death and to force doctors to inform patients of all palliative care options before providing an assisted death.

Ian Bushfield, Executive Director, BC Humanist Association:

The sky did not fall in the two weeks that Canada had no law criminalizing medical assistance in dying. Instead, people in suffering were able to start frank conversations with their medical team about their end of life options.

While this new law should help to reassure the overly conservative parts of the medical community, it remains problematic and will undoubtedly be challenged in court very soon. The eligibility criteria are vague and arbitrary and the amendments Parliament did accept could make it harder for people to be with a dying family member. Further issues of access, particularly in publicly-funded religious hospitals, remain.

The government has promised further consultations on expanding access to medical assistance in dying and the secular and compassionate majority must hold them to that.

Read Dying With Dignity Canada's response.

Last month, following news of wildfires forcing the evacuation of the Alberta city of Fort McMurray, the BC Humanist Association arranged a fundraiser for the Canadian Red Cross.

Members came forward and quickly donated over $2000 in a few days toward the relief efforts. Another donor, who had promised to match every donation up $5000, decided in the end to donate the full $5000, making our collective contribution to over $7000.

Each and every one of those dollars was then matched by the Government of Canada, representing an additional $14,000 to support the thousands of individuals and families affected.

In total, the Canadian Red Cross was able to raise over $125 million from individuals, governments, community groups and companies. They have since produced a report giving a one month update on where those funds have gone.

Thank you to everyone who donated. Your compassion has made a real difference in this crisis.

Image credit: Wikipedia

This has been an incredible week for the BC Humanist Association.

On Monday, we announced the results of our latest poll with Insights West. We found that:

• 70% of British Columbians are non-religious - up from 64% from 2013,
• 26% do not believe in a higher power - up from 20%,
• 70% oppose public funding for private religious schools and
• majorities oppose property tax exemptions for religious groups.

On each of the issues we surveyed, the public is increasingly on our side.

Then we learned that Abbotsford school district "will no longer distribute the Gideon Bible or other religious materials to students."

This victory only happened because of the pressure that we put on the district to end the practice.

Our efforts are getting noticed. Just this week we've been featured on CBC Vancouver, the Vancouver Sun, Roundhouse Radio, CFAX Victoria, Spice Radio and more.

We are making incredible gains and winning important battles but there is a lot of work still ahead of us.

Following a request by the British Columbia Humanist Association in March, Abbotsford School District Superintendent Kevin Godden has confirmed that “the district will no longer distribute the Gideon Bible or other religious materials to students.”

The District has maintained a policy of distributing materials from external groups, including Gideon Bibles, at the discretion of the superintendent.

Ian Bushfield, Executive Director, BC Humanist Association:

As far as we are aware, Abbotsford was the last public school district in BC that was distributing Gideon Bibles in classrooms. So this is a clear recognition that BC public schools should be secular and inclusive. It’s a sign to parents and students that they are welcome in Abbotsford whether they’re Christian, Muslim, Sikh, atheist or otherwise.

Despite this victory, the Government of BC continues to fund faith-based independent schools – a policy opposed by 70% of the public. The schools we fund as a province should be open and inclusive to students of all faiths and none.

There are few words that I can add to what has already been said about the tragedy in Orlando.

I'll simply echo this comment from the British Humanist Association:

We must always stand up to hate. Whatever its motivations. And now more than ever, we have to think and reflect on everything we set out to achieve: a better world, informed by values of reason and empathy, love and kindness, and the courage to stand up to hate.

This summer, the BC Humanist Association, CFI Vancouver and members of the local skeptics community will once again be marching in the Vancouver Pride Parade to show our solidarity with the LGBTQ community. Everyone has the right to live free from hatred and persecution.

Update (Aug 22, 2016): You can download the full results here.

Seven in ten British Columbians are non-religious and over a quarter don’t believe in a higher power according to a new poll by Insights West commissioned by the BC Humanist Association.

This is an increase from the 64% of people who said they did not practice a religion or faith in the BC Humanist's previous survey in 2013. The number of people who believe in a higher power has dropped by 14% to 56%.

When asked "Do you practice or participate in a particular religion or faith?" 27% said yes, 69% said no and 4% were not sure.
When asked "Regardless of whether you participate in a particular religion or faith, do you believe in a higher power?" 56% said yes, 26% said no and 18% were not sure.

Ian Bushfield, Executive Director, BC Humanist Association:

Religion is on the wane in British Columbia. In its place is an increasingly secular and non-religious constituency that politicians and policymakers will need to pay attention to.

See the top-line results or download the full spreadsheet.

The poll also looked at different attitudes to government support for religious organizations.

A new poll has found that 71% of British Columbians do not support publicly-funded healthcare institutions being able to refuse to provide services like physician-assisted dying or abortion on religious grounds. A majority – 52% – are strongly opposed.

A number of healthcare institutions operated by religious groups, including Providence Healthcare in Vancouver and St Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox, have said that they would not provide medical assistance in dying, which became legal in Canada on June 6.

The poll was commissioned by the BC Humanist Association and conducted by Insights West. The BC Humanists have said that religious opposition by healthcare institutions threatens access to medical assistance in dying. The group has calculated that nearly $1 billion in public funding went to healthcare institutions operated by religious organizations in BC in 2015.

This is a historic day for compassion, dignity and choice. As of today, Canadians may request assistance to end their life with dignity. The era of suffering as a noble ideal is over.

Despite the federal government's fear mongering, there is no legal vacuum. This morning the Government of BC gave the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC's clear and compassionate guidelines "the weight of law." This means British Columbians can now request their doctor's assistance to end their suffering. Similar policies have been put in place across the country.

You can read more about these policies and what we've asked the Senate to amend in the government's proposed assisted dying bill.

As of today, suffering Canadians may request assistance to end their life with dignity.

Last year, in its unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down our country's prohibition on physician-assisted dying and spelled out clear and compassionate guidelines for when an individual may request an assisted death.

The Court delayed its ruling to give Parliament time to enact a new law meeting those guidelines. Parliament's answer is Bill C-14, which is only now being considered by the Senate. That Bill is considered by many experts to be unconstitutional.

This means that the Court's ruling stands as law and any individual that meets the criteria provided by the Court has choice in death.