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Atheists believe there is not enough protection under B.C. law to defend them against discrimination.

This is the reason why they are calling on the province to amend the B.C. Human Rights Code to include nonreligion among the protected grounds against discrimination.

“While religion was one of the earliest protected grounds in human rights law, there is no explicit protection for the nonreligious in the BC Human Rights Code,” reads a petition prepared by the B.C. Humanist Association.

Under the current code, it is illegal to discriminate against a person or a group of people based on race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and age.

According to the petition, majority of British Columbians “do not practice a religion or faith and a quarter do not believe in a higher power”.

“Yet pervasive anti-atheist bias remains in many corners of this province, particularly in smaller communities and in addictions treatment,” the petition states.

The province is currently undertaking public consultations on the re-establishment of a Human Rights Commission.

According to a statement accompanying the petition, the consultations close on November 17, and there is an opportunity to suggest changes to human rights legislation.

“Without explicit inclusion in the BC Human Rights Code, people could lose their job, be evicted from their home or be persecuted for not believing in a god,” the statement reads. “They are then placed in the awkward position of having to claim they were discriminated because of a religion they do not profess. Whether or not they ultimately win their case, an atheist is made to start two steps behind a religious person when making a human rights complaint.”

In 2016, the province amended the B.C. Human Rights Code to include gender identity or expression as a protected ground to afford transgender people ample safeguards.

The B.C. Humanist Association’s petition notes: “In the same way that including ‘gender identity or expression’ added clear protections for transgender individuals, adding nonreligion will provide clarity to tribunals, employers and landlords that atheists are equally protected under the law.”