The British Columbia Humanist Association supports a secular society that affirms:
- the right of every individual to practice any religion or none, free from coercion by the government, private institutions or their community and
- that the state has a duty of religious neutrality, meaning it must neither endorse nor prohibit any belief or non-belief.
Open secularism is the best way to fully guarantee the freedom of religion and conscience of all citizens in a plural society. Secularism is the principle that the government should not privilege or disadvantage any religious or non-religious belief over any other.
We oppose government funding being given preferentially to religious organizations and tax exemptions that only benefit the religious (for example, permissive exemptions for houses of worship or the Clergy Residence Deduction). We call on the federal government to remove "the supremacy of God" from the preamble of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and to create a secular national anthem.
Latest news
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· April 10, 2026
The BC Humanist Association (BCHA) is back in court defending something fundamental: your right to access public healthcare free from religious interference.
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· April 08, 2026
Opposition Members of the Legislative Assembly echoed concerns of the BC Humanist Association (BCHA) during debates over the government's proposed church bubble zone law.
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· March 30, 2026
The BC Humanist Association (BCHA) is welcoming the end of the religious hate speech defence, though it remains concerned about the impacts of Bill C-9 on freedom of expression, as the bill passed the House of Commons last week.
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· March 27, 2026
This week, the BC Humanist Association was among dozens of groups presenting arguments at the Supreme Court of Canada in one of the largest cases of the year.
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· March 23, 2026
This week, the British Columbia Humanist Association (BCHA), with the Canadian Secular Alliance (CSA), is appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada to stand up for a vision of secularism that protects the rights of everyone, regardless of their faith or lack thereof.
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· March 11, 2026
A new bill introduced by the Government of British Columbia threatens the rights of protesters and religious dissidents, according to the BC Humanist Association (BCHA). The group is calling for the bill to be withdrawn.
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· February 25, 2026
The BC Humanist Association has written to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney asking him to back his recent comments on Christian Nationalism with action.
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· January 12, 2026
Lawyers have begun presenting arguments at the BC Supreme Court in a trial that could determine the future of faith-based hospitals in the province.
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· December 18, 2025
Parents across Alberta are calling on Minister of Education and Childcare, Demetrios Nicolaides, to retract and apologize for a holiday letter that promoted Christian religious doctrine using an official government platform.
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· November 26, 2025
Humanists are celebrating the passage of Bill 40 in Manitoba, which removes mandatory prayers from the province's Public Schools Act.
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