Humanists argue for ex-religious privacy rights at BC Court of Appeal
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: September 1, 2014
Publisher Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Publication: Freethought Newswire
Original Link: https://www.bchumanist.ca/humanists_argue_for_ex_religious_privacy_rights_at_bc_court_of_appeal
Publication Date: October 30, 2024
Organization: British Columbia Humanist Association
Organization Description: The British Columbia Humanist Association has been providing a community and voice for Humanists, atheists, agnostics, and the non-religious of Metro Vancouver and British Columbia since 1982. We support the growth of Humanist communities across BC, provide Humanist ceremonies, and campaign for progressive and secular values.
By Ian Bushfield
Lawyers argued over the constitutionality of BC’s privacy law at the BC Court of Appeal yesterday in an ongoing dispute between the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of BC.
The BCHA was able to bring the voice of those who’ve chosen to dissociate from religion to the court.
The case began several years ago when two former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) requested records held by their former congregations in Grand Forks and Coldstream under BC’s privacy law (PIPA). The JWs believe their religion requires the records to be kept confidential and have fought the required disclosure to the Privacy Commissioner, arguing the privacy law is unconstitutional.
The BCHA intervened at the Supreme Court of BC in September 2023. That Court dismissed the JW’s petition and that decision was appealed. Yesterday, the Court of Appeal heard those arguments.
Our arguments, presented by our pro-bono counsel John Trueman and Chloe Trudel, walked through our perspectives on: freedom, consent and religion; assessing the severity of the claimed Charter infringement in this case; and how the court might balance that infringement against the importance of privacy rights.
We suggest that [PIPA] recognizes the inherent power imbalance between organizations and individuals. Far from being a state intrusion into the private affairs of religious congregations, PIPA tries to protect individuals – members and non-members – from having their personal information used, or misused, without their consent.
Unfortunately, the Court does not record, nor permit, recordings of its proceedings; however, we posted a few updates throughout the proceedings to Threads, including our brief arguments.
The real claim [by the Jehovah’s Witnesses] is that they have the constitutional right to keep secret files about former members without consent, and without any regulation by the state.
The justices reserved judgement, meaning it will be another three to six months before we have a decision. That may be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. The BCHA will continue to follow this case with great interest.
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