The need for charity law reform - June 4, 2018 Newsletter - British Columbia Humanist Association

On Thursday, I shared a message asking you to help us ensure Canada's charity laws are reformed.

Like all charities in Canada, we're subject to strict but ill-defined restrictions on our political activities.

As a group that advocates for the rights of the nonreligious and supports democracy and human rights, this puts us at risk when we speak out on pressing social issues.

The Liberals promised to reform these laws when they were elected and an expert panel provided clear recommendations for change.

Now we need your help to hold the government to account.

Send a letter to the Prime Minister today

Tell him to follow-through and create a new law to protect Canadians’ right to be heard through the charities they support.

One of the steps to reforming Canada's charity laws is building a statutory definition of charity. If we can get the government to commit to this, we can have our best opportunity to challenge the privileged state of religion in our law.

Remembering Frank Norman

BC Humanist Association Life Member Frank Norman died recently after a short illness. He was one of the first members of the BCHA, attending since the group met at Britannia School. Frank was a regular attendee at our Sunday meetings in Vancouver when he was in town. He was retired from work as a messenger for a courier company and shared his time between Vancouver and family in Cornwall in England.

If there's a public memorial, I'll include details in a future newsletter.