In celebration of Pride Week in Vancouver, the BC Humanist Association is launching the BC Queer Humanist Alliance.

Building on the BCHA's previous positions, and our Executive Director's statement on Quebec's Bill 21, the Board of Directors of the BC Humanist Association last week reiterated our opposition to the Quebec government's ban on religious symbols.

The BC Humanist Association has today asked the BC Legislature's Finance Committee to use Budget 2020 to advance secular values in British Columbia.

In its brief, the organization identifies four ways the budget can be used to end the privileging of religious views in the province.

1. Phase out public funding of independent schools
2. Reform property tax exemptions for “places of public worship”
3. Secularize the public healthcare system
4. End funding for discriminatory housing programs

Recognizing that the laws governing Canadian charities are “outdated, convoluted”, a Senate committee is recommending a full review of whether Canada should define what a charity is in law.

Whether an organization can be registered as a charity is currently determined based on a list of "good, godly and charitable" purposes set out in the Statute of Elizabeth in 1601. Those purposes are the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, the advancement of religion and other purposes deemed beneficial to the community by the courts.

The BC Humanist Association and many other charities have been calling for a modernized legal framework to end uncertainty in the sector.

Humanists cannot perform marriages in British Columbia

Help us ask the Legislature of BC to change that.

A BC Human Rights Tribunal adjudicator has rejected an attempt to dismiss a complaint against Vancouver Coastal Health Authority for forcing a nurse to attending a 12-step program.

The BC Humanist Association (BCHA) has been following Byron Wood's case for several years now. This is the final step before Wood's case goes before a hearing at the Human Rights Tribunal. That Tribunal will ultimately rule whether Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) should be considered a religious program and therefore whether forcing patients to adhere to AA as part of their treatment violates their right to freedom from religion.

More than half of British Columbians (51%) strongly oppose "providing taxpayer funds to faith-based private schools that include religious teachings in their curriculum" according to a new poll from Insights West. A total of 69% were opposed with 18% somewhat opposed.

The BC Humanist Association has received funding through Canada Summer Jobs to hire three interns to join our team this summer.

The BCHA promotes education about secular humanism and researches issues relating to human rights and secularism.

BC Green Party leader Andrew Weaver introduced Bill M218 this afternoon, which would ban conversion therapy in the province.

Conversion therapy is the discredited notion that one's sexual orientation or gender identity can be changed.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has unanimously upheld a policy that requires doctors provide an effective referral if they refuse to provide a medically assisted death. The decision builds upon a lower court ruling.

The ruling clearly sets out that religious beliefs cannot be used to deny patients healthcare.