"This may not be a popular take," began Councillor Ian Ward at an October 10, 2023, Colwood City Council Meeting. In his speech, Councillor Ward outlined why two churches in his community should not receive permissive tax exemptions this year.

Recently, North Cowichan municipal district council denied a property tax exemption to a crisis pregnancy center.

Campbell River city council voted on September 28 to cut the property tax exemptions for the Vancouver Island Mental Health Society and the local art gallery.

On Monday, January 23, Saanich council will debate a motion calling on the province to eliminate the statutory exemptions for places of worship. The motion, "transition all statutory tax exemptions for places of worship to permissive tax exemptions," is being brought by Councillor Teale Phelps Bondaroff and would direct the Union...

The BC Humanist Association today renewed its call for a Secular BC in its response to the finance committee's consultations for Budget 2023. In its response, the organization calls for an end to funding of religious and elite private schools, the end of the statutory property tax exemption for places...

Without benefits tests for permissive tax exemptions (PTE), municipalities risk funding organizations that only provide services to their members, run commercial operations, exclude and discriminate against people or flout the law. This is exactly what the District of Saanich did at its meeting on Monday, October 25th when this municipal...

The BC Humanist Association released a report today calling on municipalities to adopt regular benefits tests for tax exemptions granted to places of worship. These tests, the report states, are necessary to ensure potential recipients of tax exemptions — which total millions each year — provide services that benefit the...

In November, the northern British Columbia community of Fort St John approved a new Financial Policy Framework that will require organizations "provide broad community benefits" to be eligible for property tax exemptions. Under the Community Charter, municipalities are required to exempt certain property like houses of worship from property taxes but...

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...

A group of 200 pastors lined up to denounce the province's sexual orientation and gender identity curriculum (SOGI 123). The curriculum was developed under the previous provincial government and continues to be supported by the current government, the teachers' union, principals' associations, independent and First Nations schools associations.