TransLink has once again banned ads that it claims offend its advertising policy.

Yesterday, the regional transportation authority announced that it won’t accept creative material submitted by the B.C. Humanist Association.

It wanted to place ads on the transit system saying, “You can be good without God.”

In 2006, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that TransLink violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms with an earlier prohibition on political advertising.

Under Section 2(b), the charter guarantees freedom of expression. Section 15 of the charter prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion.

TransLink issued a statement yesterday (February 6) that its advertising policy will not accept anything that “promotes or opposes a specific theology or religious ethic, point of view, policy or action”.

Before the 2005 provincial election, TransLink wouldn’t allow ads of a political nature from the Canadian Federation of Students and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation. The ads promoted a campaign called "Rock the Vote".

The two organizations challenged that decision on constitutional grounds, but lost in B.C. Supreme Court.

However in 2006, a B.C. Court of Appeal decision reversed the lower court ruling.

B.C.'s highest court determined that TransLink was a “government” agency that had to abide by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In a 2-1 decision, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that the TransLink’s ban on political ads infringed on the organizations’ constitutional right to freedom of expression.

In 2007, TransLink sought a stay of the order pending an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The B.C. Court of Appeal rejected that application.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association was an intervenor in the case.