This is part four of our guide for anyone non-religious (humanist, atheist, agnostic) preparing for their own, or witnessing a loved one at the end of their life. This guide is also for those who are simply interested in learning more about the humanist perspective of life & death. For information and support about experiencing a loss, please read our second guide, Memorials & Grief: A Guide for Humanists and Non-Religious People in BC . This is available for free on our website bchumani...
Oct 19, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 4
This is part three of our guide for anyone non-religious (humanist, atheist, agnostic) preparing for their own, or witnessing a loved one at the end of their life. This guide is also for those who are simply interested in learning more about the humanist perspective of life & death. For information and support about experiencing a loss, please read our second guide, Memorials & Grief: A Guide for Humanists and Non-Religious People in BC . This is available for free on our website bchuman...
Oct 19, 2020•7 min•Season 1Ep. 3
This is part two of our guide for anyone non-religious (humanist, atheist, agnostic) preparing for their own, or witnessing a loved one at the end of their life. This guide is also for those who are simply interested in learning more about the humanist perspective of life & death. For information and support about experiencing a loss, please read our second guide, Memorials & Grief: A Guide for Humanists and Non-Religious People in BC . This is available for free on our website bchumanis...
Oct 19, 2020•1 min•Season 1Ep. 2
This is part one of our guide for anyone non-religious (humanist, atheist, agnostic) preparing for their own, or witnessing a loved one at the end of their life. This guide is also for those who are simply interested in learning more about the humanist perspective of life & death. For information and support about experiencing a loss, please read our second guide, Memorials & Grief: A Guide for Humanists and Non-Religious People in BC . This is available for free on our website bchumanis...
Oct 19, 2020•2 min•Season 1Ep. 1
This event was originally held live on Zoom on August 13, 2020.
Aug 18, 2020•1 hr 11 min
In the wake of George Floyd's murder, mass protests and calls to action across the globe have cast a light on critical issues of systemic racial discrimination and dehumanization. In a continuation of our lecture series taking a humanist look at systemic racism and criminal justice, our presenter Corey Clay focuses in this talk on how racial dehumanization intersects with wider issues around criminal justice and Black antisemitism. Back by popular demand, Clay has 14 years of experience studying...
Aug 04, 2020•1 hr 6 min
From the Research Desk is a regular check in with our executive director, Ian Bushfield on some of the current projects that our campaigns teams are working on. This talk, recorded on June 5, 2020, is on some of our work on private schools in British Columbia. We've previously documented the background of their funding model, shown that everyone appointed to oversee independent schools has come from an Evangelical Christian school, broken down the funding for these schools showing it disproporti...
Jun 15, 2020•45 min
From the Research Desk is a regular check in with our research team, Dr Teale Phelps Bondaroff and Ian Bushfield, on some of the current projects that our campaigns teams are working on. This talk was broadcast on May 15, 2020. In this talk, Ian & Teale talk about our work on charity law. Watch the video of this talk Join or Donate to the BC Humanist Association Creative Commons intro music credit: Teamwork by Scott Holmes...
Jun 10, 2020•59 min
Introducing a new virtual program from the BC Humanist Association. From the Research Desk is a weekly check in with our research coordinator, Dr Teale Phelps Bondaroff, on some of the current projects that our campaigns teams are working on. Our first broadcast was on Friday, April 3, 2020. In this talk, Teale talks about our findings on the use of prayers in provincial and municipal governance. Watch the video of this talk Read House of Prayers Sign up to help with our Secularism in Local Gove...
Apr 30, 2020•1 hr
At the end of November, MLAs voted unanimously to begin every day's sitting of the BC Legislature with "prayers and reflections" rather than "prayers." The change followed the publication in September of the BC Humanist Association's landmark House of Prayers Report . The Report examined the transcripts of 873 prayers said in the legislature between October 2003 and February 2019. It also included a thorough consideration of the various arguments against the practice and provided a series of rec...
Mar 12, 2020•54 min
Furquan Gehlan is currently Co-Chair of the Vancouver chapter of Canadian Peace Initiative and is also on the board of the Global Alliance for Ministries and infrastructures for peace. From 2013 to 2019 he was the National Co-chair of Canadian Peace Initiative. He is currently chapter coordinator for World BEYOND War’s Metro Vancouver chapter and is focused on developing a culture of peace in Canada and around the world. His passion is to make the world a better place by focusing on resolving pr...
Dec 16, 2019•45 min
Via wikipedia: David Barsamian (born 1945) is an Armenian-American radio broadcaster, writer, and the founder and director of Alternative Radio, a Boulder, Colorado-based syndicated weekly public affairs program heard on some 250 radio stations worldwide. David spoke at the Vancouver Humanists Sunday meeting on October 20, 2019. Photo by Shahen books - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47219104
Dec 04, 2019•58 min
AccessBC are a group of young people from around British Columbia who are concerned with removing barriers to accessing prescription contraception. Visit https://www.accessbc.org/ Bree is a multi-disciplinary activist originally hailing from Dartmouth, NS. Trans-spectrum, chronically ill, queer, disabled, and experiencing poverty, Bree’s primary focus is on Safer Spaces, Harm Reduction, and Access to Healthcare. They are an abortion doula certified through Full Spectrum Doula Collective Canada, ...
Aug 30, 2019•41 min
THE GWANGJU TRAGEDY AND HOW SOUTH KOREA BECAME A DEMOCRACY (Via Wikipedia) In May 1980, peaceful demonstrations took place in Gwangju against Chun Doo-hwan, leader of the South Korean military coup d'état of December 12, 1979. The demonstrations were suppressed by military forces, including elite units of the Special Operations Command. The situation escalated after a violent crackdown, resulting in the Gwangju Uprising, where civilians raided armouries and armed themselves. By the time the upri...
Apr 08, 2019•37 min
Apologies for the poor audio quality in this recording. Charlotte Ross is a nurse who recently completed her PhD Thesis in SFU's Department of Health Sciences. Her research looked at substance use practices among nurses across Western Canada. Her work highlights the prevalence of AA or 12-Step based practices, despite participants disagreements with the moral and religious basis. She has interrogated some of the forces that have led to the dominance of 12-Step treatments and what alternatives ex...
Mar 14, 2019•42 min
Boris Reitman runs the local Atheism Q&A meetup and has a background in philosophy. In this talk he will talk about his group and give one of his presentations on the origins of Judaism. To learn more about the BC Humanist Association visit https://www.bchumanist.ca
Mar 08, 2019•41 min
Lisa Shapiro is a professor of philosophy at Simon Fraser University. She heads New Narratives in the History of Philosophy, which aims to develop new narratives of our philosophical past that centrally include women thinkers, and thereby to reconfigure, enrich and reinvigorate the philosophical canon, focusing on the early modern period (roughly 1560-1810). In this talk she touches on the New Narratives project and a few women philosophers in the 17th Century who raised the prospect that men an...
Mar 07, 2019•49 min
Are some animals more equal than others? SFU Professor Arne Mooers expands on his recent piece in The Conversation to look at the philosophy and ethics underlying efforts at conservation. https://theconversation.com/losing-some-species-may-matter-more-than-losing-others-108337
Feb 12, 2019•44 min
Bethany Lindsay is a CBC news reporter and former biologist. In 2018, she published investigations into bogus medical claims being made online, the lack of oversight of alternative medicines and BC chiropractors who promoted anti-vaccine messaging. She previously worked for the Vancouver Sun, North Shore News and CTV. She is the author of British Columbia Burning: The worst wildfire season in BC history.
Feb 06, 2019•34 min
Laura is a human rights lawyer and the Director of Education in Community Legal Assistance Society's Human Rights Clinic. She advocates on behalf of people who have experienced discrimination and assists complainants to navigate BC’s human rights process. Laura also has a strong interest in making legal knowledge accessible. She delivers workshops and presentations to a wide variety of audiences to help people understand their human rights and comply with their legal obligations.
Feb 04, 2019•42 min
Nathanael Lauster is an Associate Professor of Sociology at UBC and author of the award-winning book, The Death and Life of the Single Family House: Lessons from Vancouver on Building a Livable City (Temple University Press). His book and work investigate the regulatory power attached to the house and its impact on the shape and inhabitability of North American cities. He examines the transformation of Vancouver as a key city and talk to residents about their experiences with housing. Since the ...
Feb 04, 2019•45 min
2018 saw the end of Canada's blasphemy law, the rejection of TWU's law school and an easing of restrictions on charities' free speech. Building off this momentum, Humanists and secularists in British Columbia have the opportunity to make significant gains in 2019. Ian Bushfield, executive director of the BC Humanist Association, will outline some of the BCHA's priorities in our Secular BC campaign.
Jan 07, 2019•41 min
Ian Waddell is a Canadian politician, author and filmmaker who served in the House of Commons from 1979 to 1993 and in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1996 to 2001. Currently, Waddell is a documentary film producer and a consultant in environmental and aboriginal affairs. In December 2013 he was appointed the honorary title of Queen’s Counsel for his merit and exceptional contribution to law. His film The Drop: Why Young People Don’t Votewon the Best Producer Award in the Bever...
Dec 18, 2018•31 min
Two educators behind the "Sex Ed Is Our Right" campaign talk about the importance of sexual health, sexual orientation and gender identity education in BC schools. Ghada is from YouthCo HIV & Hep C Society and Darren is from the Community-Based Research Centre for Gay Men's Health. To learn more about the campaign visit https://www.sexedisourright.ca/ To learn more about the BC Humanist Association visit https://www.bchumanist.ca
Dec 10, 2018•29 min
V. Victoria Shroff is one of the first and longest serving animal law practitioners in Canada. She has been practising animal law civil litigation for nearly 20 years in Vancouver at Shroff and Associates and has been recognized for her work in animal law. She is adjunct professor of animal law at UBC’s Allard Hall Law School and is frequently interviewed by media. Ms Shroff also founded an animal law and social literacy program called Paws of Empathy. Contact her at shroff@telus.net, @shroffani...
Dec 03, 2018•47 min
Valorie Crooks is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar. She is a health geographer and specialize in health services research. She is particularly interested in the spatial and place-based dimensions of health care delivery and receipt. She primary engages in non-hypothesis-testing qualitative research. She has been studying medical tourism since 2009 and has led and continues to lead several s...
Nov 26, 2018•49 min
BC families face a crisis in accessing quality, affordable child care. Fees are too high — the second highest family expense after housing. Wait lists are too long — less that 20% of children under the age of 12 in BC have access to a regulated child care space. And too often families are forced into unregulated care, with no safety standards. The $10aDay Child Care Plan is the solution to BC’s child care crisis. Since its release, the $10aDay Child Care Plan has been enthusiastically endorsed a...
Nov 20, 2018•29 min
Since 2016 the BC Humanist Association and Vancouver Peace Poppies have co-hosted ‘Let Peace be Their Memorial’, an annual wreath-laying ceremony. Held in Vancouver, BC on the afternoon of November 11, it commemorates civilian victims of war. About 200 people attended this year. This year our keynote speaker was Tima Kurdi of the Kurdi Foundation . A Syrian-born resident of Coquitlam, she has been speaking around the world of the plight of Syrian and other refugees. Her book “The Boy on the Beac...
Nov 15, 2018•27 min
The Big Stall traces the origins of the government's climate change plan back to the energy sector itself — in particular Big Oil. It shows how, in the last fifteen years, Big Oil has infiltrated provincial and federal governments, academia, media and the non-profit sector to sway government and public opinion on the realities of climate change and what needs to be done about it. DONALD GUTSTEIN is a former professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University and co-director of Ne...
Nov 13, 2018•37 min
Dr Lynne Marks is a professor of history at the University of Victoria. She studies Canadian history, women’s and gender history and the social history of religion/irreligion and atheism. Her 2017 book, Infidels and the Damn Churches: Irreligion and Religion in Settler British Columbia, looks at why British Columbians in the past have been less religious than those in the rest of Canada. This pattern remains true today, but she explores it for the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, ...
Nov 05, 2018•42 min
