Canada's blasphemy law is under review by the Minister of Justice and could be repealed as part of broader justice reform. Jody Wilson-Raybould made the commitment in her response to a petition signed by nearly 7500 people calling on the government to repeal section 296 (the prohibition on blasphemous libel)...

Editor's note: While Canada's latent blasphemy law isn't explicitly mentioned in this article, we must continue to fight for it's repeal as these stories highlight how, under the right political climate, it could be used to censor opposition. By Rafiqa Qurrata A'yun, University of Indonesia The Indonesian police recently named the Chinese-Indonesian...

The BC Humanist Association has published its submission to the Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) online consultation on charities' political activities. Restrictions on charities political activities came under scrutiny under the previous government and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals campaigned on revising those rules. However, at its core, Canada's charity law dates...

Today is International Blasphemy Rights Day – a day to remember the publishing of the Danish Mohammed cartoons ten years ago that sparked several violent protests across the world. It’s still an important day for advocates for freedom of expression as people are still being imprisoned and murdered for criticizing beliefs and art critical of...

At its council meeting yesterday, the City of Victoria agreed 3-2 to proclaim September 30, 2016 as International Blasphemy Rights Day. The BC Humanist Association requested the proclamation as part of its support for freedom of expression; however, the council did amend the proclamation to remove a section challenging the...

The petition, launched last week, is only the latest effort to repeal Canada's blasphemy law. Over the past few years, numerous columnists, civil liberties groups and legal experts have called for the law to be repealed. If you're not convinced that the law needs to go, read some of these links....

Groups representing Humanists, atheists and secularists across Canada are calling on the Government to repeal an outdated section of the criminal code penalizing so-called “blasphemous libel.” The e-petition launched yesterday and was signed by over 1000 Canadians in the first day, more then double the minimum number required to be...

Update (June 14, 2016): The Greek Government has responded. See a translation of their letter at the bottom of this post. The BC Humanist Association has joined an international letter from secular, atheist and Humanist organizations calling on the Greek government to repeal its country's blasphemy law. Read the letter.

As part of its commitment to freedom of expression and the importance of dissent, the BC Humanist Association has signed onto the new Voices-Voix Declaration. The 2016 Declaration succeeds the previous declaration which decried the muzzling of government scientists, political audits of charities and general advocacy chill. With the election...

The BC Humanist Association today wrote to Canada's ambassador to Saudi Arabia calling for him to join over 60 human rights and free speech organizations who are calling for Saudi authorities to release poet Ashraf Fayadh. Fayadh was sentenced to death for apostasy in a widely discredited trial.