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
Posted on
News
· May 14, 2019
Following a letter from the BC Humanist Association, councillors in the District of Saanich voted unanimously Monday night to move toward applying a public benefits test before granting property tax exemptions to religious groups in the municipality. The vote followed a staff report reviewing options for the District. It notes that...
Posted on
Blog by Ian Bushfield
· May 01, 2019
76 (1) All schools and Provincial schools must be conducted on strictly secular and non-sectarian principles. (2) The highest morality must be inculcated, but no religious dogma or creed is to be taught in a school or Provincial school. Since 1876, BC has required schools "be conducted upon strictly secular and non-sectarian principles."...
Posted on
News
· April 18, 2019
A new poll from ResearchCo has found that only 3% of British Columbians say they attend religious services "at least once a week." Only 2% said they had "confessed or sought advice from a religious figure" in the past 12 months. The poll also found that 29% of people in...
Posted on
Blog by The Conversation
· April 04, 2019
By Bethany Hastie, University of British Columbia and Margot Young, University of British Columbia From conflicts over wedding cakes to university admissions to religious schools, the tension between equality rights and religious freedom is often in the news in Canada, the United States and beyond. Public recognition of diverse family...
Posted on
Blog by Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff
· February 07, 2019
We're done! In December, we started recruiting volunteers to help transcribe every daily prayer said in the BC Legislature since 2003. Together, we transcribed 871 prayers delivered in the BC Legislature from 2003 to the present. The team comprised 52 volunteers from across the province (and beyond) and we accomplished this amazing...
Posted on
News
· January 17, 2019
Faith-based organizations that refuse to provide medical assistance in dying should not be awarded new public contracts said the BC Humanist Association in response to news that a Catholic group will be leading a redevelopment plan for a Comox hospital.
Posted on
Blog by Ian Bushfield
· December 18, 2018
Amid the numerous stories we worked on last week, the BC Human Rights Tribunal released a 90-page decision following a complaint against a Bowen Island Montessori School (BIMS). When I wrote about the complaint when it was filed over two years ago, I said: The Montessori’s efforts to single out one...
Posted on
News
· December 17, 2018
Through a crowdsourced effort, the BC Humanist Association is planning to transcribe every one of the 644 prayers said in the British Columbia Legislature since 2003. Every day the Legislative Assembly's sittings begins with a prayer led by one Member of the Legislative Assembly. There exists no study of the...
Posted on
News
· December 12, 2018
The BC Humanist Association is supportive of any municipality reviewing whether public funds are being spent in a secular and inclusive manner. During a line-by-line debate over the City of Victoria's annual budget, Council approved a motion by Councillor Ben Isitt to have staff review the $64,000 the city spends...
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Blog by Ian Bushfield
· December 03, 2018
The past year has seen some big advances for Humanist values in British Columbia - and for the BC Humanist Association itself. The highlight of the year, for me, came in June when the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the decisions of law societies in BC and Ontario to reject...
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