BC Humanists Podcast BC Humanist Association

Bettianne Hedges of Humanist Canada hosts Leslie Rosenblood from Centre for Inquiry Canada alongside Teale Phelps Bondaroff and Ian Bushfield of the BC Humanist Association, who will discuss the many ways Canada still tangibly privileges religion and its institutions over similar non-theistic organizations. Just a few policy choices cost Canadians billions - yes, with a "b" - each and every year.

You can learn more by reading:


Cost of Religion in Canada from CFIC
A Public Good from BCHA
Follow the Money from BCHA
An Extra Burden from BCHA

Recorded March 19, 2024

Join Megan Sheldon of Be Ceremonial as we explore the foundations of ceremony, including how we can create our own rituals to acknowledge times of change in life, death, and everything in between. You will learn how to craft a ritual, design a ceremony, and mark the seemingly invisible moments that often go unnoticed in our society. There will be an opportunity for questions, as well as a chance to browse the Be Ceremonial platform that inspires you with hundreds of secular rituals across the life cycle.



About Megan Sheldon, Co-Founder & CEO, Be Ceremonial

Megan Sheldon (she/her) is the co-founder of Be Ceremonial, the world's first guided ritual app + online community. Be Ceremonial inspires you to create your own ceremonies across the life cycle, drawing on hundreds of universal rituals. Megan is a cultural mythologist, secular celebrant, and end of life doula who is striving to change the cultural narratives around death, dying and grief.



Download End of Life: A Guide for Humanists and Non-Religious People in BC

Despite decades of calls to action, our emissions are not on a path to stave off a horrific future for our children and future generations.

The BC Climate Emergency Campaign is a group of civil society organizations, anxious about the climate emergency, who are collaborating to increase the ambition of climate policy and action in BC. We are not a formal coalition, but have chosen to work together on a joint campaign.

Signatories, which include the BC Humanist Association, share a belief that BC’s climate plan, CleanBC, needs a profound jolt, one that would transform CleanBC into a genuine emergency plan and force the provincial government to take real action on climate change.

In this webinar, BC Climate Emergency Campaign Coordinator Emiko Newman will prioritize an action-oriented, hope-filled approach that's heavy on solutions to the crisis.

Presenter: Emiko Newman, BC Climate Emergency Campaign coordinator

Emiko is passionate about exploring the intersections of social justice and climate justice. In 2022, she completed a master’s degree in Social Justice Education and Environmental Studies at the University of Toronto, focusing on the power of eco-pedagogies for fostering a praxis of hope within environmental education.

Her past work experience includes coordinating anti-racism workshops, working as a research assistant on environmental and sustainability education, and teaching piano. She joined the BC Climate Emergency campaign with the desire to work alongside others to push the government away from incremental action towards the emergency-level action demanded by the climate crisis. Emiko is also an avid field hockey player, pianist, taiko player, and (sometimes) completer of reading challenges.

Despite a 2015 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that prayers at municipal council meetings are unconstitutional, multiple communities across British Columbia still opened their 2022 inaugural council meetings with a prayer.

This is a recording of a discussion about prayers with BCHA Research Coordinator Dr Teale Phelps Bondaroff where he explores our latest work updating the status of prayers at BC municipalities. We've made incredible progress in ensuring compliance since 2018 but there are still a number of stragglers that we will continue to challenge.

Learn more about our work at https://www.bchumanist.ca

The Government of British Columbia's Master Agreement with religious healthcare facilities allows some hospitals to 'opt-out' of providing patients with procedures that they're legally entitled too.

This means your right to MAID or an abortion is subject to the whims of Catholic Bishops and not the rule of law.

Find out about the history of religious hospitals in the province and how this agreement came about. We'll also give you the tools to help end these religious opt-outs.

Special Guest: Dying With Dignity Canada's CEO Helen Long.

References

Vandenberg and Boschma (2020)

Fritz (2015) The origins of public funded medical care in BC and the BCMA’s contributions

Schratz (2018) Important history behind out health care

CBC From the archives: Kim Campbell clashes with BC premier over abortion

Abortion History (2007)

Denominational Health principal members

Humanists call for end to Master Agreement

Email your MLA (BCHA)

Email your MLA (DWDC)

Share your story (DWDC)

The Canadian constitution does not have a formal establishment clause separating church and state as the USA does, so can Canada be considered a secular country? In this presentation, BC Humanist Association Executive Director Ian Bushfield will argue that Canada’s unique legal and political history, coupled with a forward-looking Charter of Rights and Freedoms and judiciary, has resulted in more robust protections for the nonreligious and state neutrality than presently exist in America. Bushfield will walk through several of the major legal cases in Canadian religious law, from Big M Drug Mart to Saguenay and Trinity Western University. Along the way, he’ll highlight how secular activists and humanist organizations have increasingly made their voices heard through the justice system and identify several issues on the horizon.


This talk by BCHA Executive Director Ian Bushfield was recorded at the Kelowna, Atheists, Skeptics & Humanists Association (KASHA) Forum on July 31, 2023.

Please note that the final minute of the talk was re-recorded.