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
· January 18, 2023
In its response to the Ministry of Finance's pre-Budget 2023 consultation, the BC Humanist Association is again asking the government to recognize its duty of religious neutrality and end special privileges for religious organizations.
The BCHA previously made these calls to the House of Commons' Finance Committee.
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Blog by Ian Bushfield
· December 13, 2022
Last week we published our latest report: Open for Unconstitutional Business, our detailed examination of prayers in Ontario municipalities. In it, we spent ten pages exploring the complexities raised by the growing prevalence of Indigenous territorial acknowledgements, welcoming ceremonies and even blessings at municipal council meetings. Our arguments built upon our...
Posted on
News
· December 07, 2022
Français suit
Almost half of the municipalities in Ontario opened their 2018 inaugural meetings with a prayer, according to the latest report from the BC Humanist Association (BCHA). The report also fingers nine municipalities for including prayers or invocations in their regular council meetings.
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News
· November 14, 2022
Secularists are cheering a move by staff at the City of Terrace to reject the planned erection of a nativity scene over city hall.
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News
· November 07, 2022
UPDATE (Nov 9, 2022): Following complaints by the BC Humanist Association, Creston's inaugural council meeting proceeding without its planned invocation.
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News
· November 03, 2022
The City of Parksville's planned "blessings" at its upcoming inaugural council meeting is drawing criticism from the BC Humanist Association. On Monday, November 7, 2022 at 1pm, the City of Parksville will hold its inaugural council meeting following the recent municipal elections. As part of that agenda, the City is...
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News
· October 26, 2022
The BC Humanist Association is celebrating the latest data from the Census shows that 52.1% of British Columbians are non-religious. This is a reflection of the growing trend of people in BC and across Canada who are choosing to live their lives without religion. In the 2011 National Household Survey...
Posted on
News
· October 18, 2022
The BC Humanist Association (BCHA) is asking BC municipalities to confirm that this year's inaugural council meetings will be secular.
Posted on
Blog by Ian Bushfield
· September 06, 2022
Despite the legal requirement that all schools be “strictly secular,” our initial review has found that only 7 of the 60 public school districts in British Columbia have a policy that explicitly limits religious proselytization in schools.
See more secularism posts.
