Religious services remain banned in BC during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet at least one Vancouver church has continued meeting under the guise of a support group.

Love Quest International Church says on its website that it launched "The Good Life Support Group" in late February 2021 as a response to the pandemic. It appears to have been meeting in person weekly at Strathcona Church in East Vancouver. Dr Bonnie Henry, BC's Provincial Health Officer (PHO), first issued an order prohibiting in-person religious gatherings and worship services on November 19, 2020 - an order that was upheld by the Supreme Court of BC in March 2021.

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.

Yesterday the Government of Canada released its 2021 budget and today the Government of BC released its budget.

The BC Humanist Association is celebrating investments in childcare, reconciliation and efforts to combat systemic racism.

The BC Humanist Association has joined calls from community to divest from policing and invest in community programs in the City of Vancouver.

Building on its research-driven advocacy around religious prayers in the legislature and municipal councils across British Columbia, the BC Humanist Association is asking today why our provincial politicians have thus far limited their spiritual considerations to more traditional approaches to understanding the universe.

In its new report, Separation of Religion and Government in Retrograde, the BCHA considers the impact of the astrological star signs of MLAs on the province's prosperity.

The BC Humanist Association has created two guides to discuss issues that humanists and other non-religious people may encounter around the ends of their lives. This guide, on Memorials & Grief, is for anyone non-religious (humanist, atheist, agnostic) and living with the death of a loved one, or simply interested in learning more about the humanist perspective of life & death.

The BC Humanist Association is calling for the scrapping of a proposal to create a "Regulatory College of Complementary and Alternative Health and Care Professionals" by a committee tasked with modernizing BC's provincial health professions regulatory framework.

The new regulatory college is being proposed to amalgamate existing colleges for chiropractors, naturopaths, acupuncturists and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. In January, the BCHA called on the committee to "end the recognition" of these professions and enshrine evidence at the core of its reforms.

The BC Humanist Association is calling on Members of Parliament (MPs) to commit to the quick reintroduction and passage of two bills this fall after an announcement yesterday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was proroguing Parliament until September 23.

With prorogation all bills are wiped from the order paper. This included ones that would ban conversion therapy and make changes to Canada's assisted dying laws. The BCHA recently launched a petition in support of the ban on conversion therapy and has long campaigned for broad access to medical assistance in dying (MAID).

Both bills had not passed first reading in the House of Commons.

Despite accusations of discriminating against LGBTQ2S+ staff, evangelical Bible camp Young Life has received over $600,000 in government funding in recent years, according to its charitable tax returns. This included over $150,000 from the federal government in 2019.

A movement of current and former members of Young Life is rallying behind the hashtag #DoBetterYoungLife calling on the organization to abandon its anti-LGBTQ2S+ "sexual conduct" policies. That story is documented by Kathryn Post in Religion News Service.

In a petition launched today, members of the BC Humanist Association are calling on parliamentarians to pass a bill banning conversion therapy in Canada.