Through our weekly newsletter, we like to let you know about our upcoming events as well as a number of issues and campaigns that we think might be of interest to you. Let me know if you have any suggestions to include in future roundups. Email: [email protected]

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DISCLAIMER: The opinions which appear in the newsletter and in this roundup of all the news which didn't fit within the newsletter are not necessarily shared by all or even most of the members and board of the BC Humanist Association.

Update: Click here or keep reading for the latest.

Following the latest attacks on Humanist and atheist writers, bloggers and intellectuals in Bangladesh, the BC Humanist Association is calling on Prime Minister designate Justin Trudeau to make Canada a "safe haven" for those facing persecution for their views.

This weekend, religious fanatics murdered Humanist Faisal Arefin Dipon and sent three more Humanist bloggers to hospital in Bangladesh. Dipon published freethought and pro-secular books, including some by Avijit Roy who was murdered in a separate attack earlier this year in Dhaka.

The International Humanist and Ethical Union has more details on this latest assault on free expression.

Yesterday the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada released a joint declaration opposing assisted dying.

Michael Coren sums up their opposition in today’s Toronto Star:

No to abortion, no to gay rights, no to euthanasia. Because [the Christian right] have lost the first two they are fighting like zealots to defend the last.

What happens when religious believers want to infringe on the rights of patients and healthcare practitioners?

Right now, the answer is we don’t know - but it isn’t looking good.

A senior Liberal adviser has told CBC that Justin Trudeau's new Liberal Government is considering asking the Supreme Court for an additional six months delay in bringing forward legislation to comply with the Court's unanimous decision in February to end the prohibition on physician assisted dying. This would mean that helping someone in suffering hasten their death would remain a criminal offence.

On October 19, Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party won a majority government, unseating Stephen Harper's Conservatives after nearly a decade. Trudeau promised to bring "real change" to Ottawa and we'll be watching closely to see what that means for those of us who support secularism and evidence-based policy.

On the evening of October 17, several members of the BC Humanists participated in the annual Light the Night Walk, organized by The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. Our participation is one of our many community actions that express our Humanist values locally and nationally.

Through our weekly newsletter, we like to let you know about our upcoming events as well as a number of issues and campaigns that we think might be of interest to you. Let me know if you have any suggestions to include in future roundups. Email: [email protected]

And for the latest news items, be sure to like the BC Humanists on Facebook and follow @BCHumanist on Twitter.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions which appear in the newsletter and in this roundup of all the news which didn't fit within the newsletter are not necessarily shared by all or even most of the members and board of the BC Humanist Association.

On October 18, 2015 Gurmail Gill, secretary of the Tarksheel (Rational) Cultural Society, the Punjabi Humanist, Rationalist, Atheist, Freethinker group in Surrey, spoke at the Vancouver Sunday Meeting of the BC Humanist Association. This is the text of his presentation.

Through our weekly newsletter, we like to let you know about our upcoming events as well as a number of issues and campaigns that we think might be of interest to you. Let me know if you have any suggestions to include in future roundups. Email: [email protected]

And for the latest news items, be sure to like the BC Humanists on Facebook and follow @BCHumanist on Twitter.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions which appear in the newsletter and in this roundup of all the news which didn't fit within the newsletter are not necessarily shared by all or even most of the members and board of the BC Humanist Association.