To one person’s right there corresponds a duty in all other persons.
Those, therefore, who claim their own rights, yet altogether forget or neglect to carry out their respective duties,
are people who build with one hand and destroy with the other.
Civil Rights & Liberties
Every member of society is imbued with a number of rights. With them come responsibilities.
In Catholic terms, a “right” has been defined as a subjective moral power, residing in the person posing it, “to do, hold, or extract something,” which functions through appeal to another’s will through the other’s intellect. It is to be distinguished from might, i.e. the physical force or power to take something away from another. – Fr John Hardon, SJ, Modern Catholic Dictionary
Man’s history of sin begins when he no longer acknowledges the Lord as his Creator and himself wishes to be the one who determines, with complete independence, what is good and what is evil. “You will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:5): this was the first temptation, and it is echoed in all the other temptations to which man is more easily inclined to yield as a result of the original Fall. – Pope Saint John Paul II, Veritatis splendor
The demands of the common good… are strictly connected to respect for and the integral promotion of the person and his fundamental rights. These demands concern above all the commitment to peace, the organization of the State’s powers, a sound juridical system, the protection of the environment, and the provision of essential services to all, some of which are at the same time human rights: food, housing, work, education and access to culture, transportation, basic health care, the freedom of communication and expression, and the protection of religious freedom. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 164-166
Racism & Discrimination
The unity of the human family is not yet becoming a reality. This is due to obstacles originating in materialistic and nationalistic ideologies that contradict the values of the person integrally considered in all his various dimensions, material and spiritual, individual and community. In particular, any theory or form whatsoever of racism and racial discrimination is morally unacceptable. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 433
Conscience & Religion
The Catholic Church emphasizes, among other rights, the right to religious freedom. Emphasis is given to the paramount value of the right to religious freedom: “all men are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits”. The respect of this right is an indicative sign of “man’s authentic progress in any regime, in any society, system or milieu.” Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 320-321
With euthanasia and medically-assisted death and abortion legalized, it is critical that healthcare providers whose deepest moral convictions tell them that such procedures are wrong, not be forced to participate. Catholic teaching says workers should be safeguarded from suffering any affront to conscience or personal dignity. It is a grave duty of conscience to avoid cooperating, even formally, with practices contrary to the Law of God.
Freedom of Speech; Truth, Press, & the Media
Information is among the principal instruments of democratic participation. Participation without an understanding of the situation of the political community, the facts and the proposed solutions to problems is unthinkable.
It is necessary to guarantee a real pluralism in the dissemination of information, ensuring that there are many forms and instruments of information and communications. Special attention must be given to the phenomenon of the news media being controlled by just a few people or groups. This has dangerous effects for the entire democratic system… The media must be used to build up and sustain the human community in its different sectors: economic, political, cultural, educational and religious. Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice and solidarity. The essential question is whether the current information system is contributing to the betterment of the human person; that is, does it make people more spiritually mature, more aware of the dignity of their humanity, more responsible or more open to others, in particular to the neediest and the weakest.
A further aspect of great importance is that new technologies must respect legitimate cultural differences. In the world of the media the intrinsic difficulties of communications are often exacerbated by ideology, the desire for profit and political control, rivalry and conflicts between groups, and other social evils. Moral values and principles apply also to the media…. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 414-416
Gender Equity
The feminine genius is needed in all expressions in the life of society. The first indispensable step in this direction is the concrete possibility of access to professional formation. The persistence of many forms of discrimination offensive to the dignity and vocation of women is due to a long series of conditioning that penalizes women, who have seen themselves relegated to the margins of society and even reduced to servitude… An urgent need to recognize effectively the rights of women in the workplace is seen especially under the aspects of pay, insurance and social security. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 295
Property
Private property and other forms of private ownership of goods “assure a person a highly necessary sphere for the exercise of his personal and family autonomy and ought to be considered as an extension of human freedom … stimulating exercise of responsibility, it constitutes one of the conditions for civil liberty.” Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 171
The Church’s social doctrine requires that ownership of goods be equally accessible to all, so that all may become, at least in some measure, owners. The world exists for everyone, because all of us were born with the same dignity. Differences of colour, religion, talent, place of birth or residence, and so many others, cannot be used to justify the privileges of some over the rights of all. As a community, we have an obligation to ensure that every person lives with dignity and has sufficient opportunities for his or her integral development. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 176
Not to share our wealth with the poor is to rob them and take away their livelihood. The riches we possess are not our own, but theirs as well… Other rights having to do with the goods necessary for the integral fulfilment of persons, including that of private property or any other type of property, should in no way hinder [this right], but should actively facilitate its implementation. Fratelli tutti, 188-120
Human Rights
The Church also recognizes a number of Human Rights, including:
– the right to life, an integral part of which is the right of the child to develop in the mother’s womb from the moment of conception
– the right to live in a united family and in a moral environment conducive to the growth of the child’s personality
– the right to develop one’s intelligence and freedom in seeking and knowing the truth
– the right to share in the work which makes wise use of the earth’s material resources, and to derive from that work the means to support oneself and one’s dependents
– and the right freely to establish a family, to have and to rear children through the responsible exercise of one’s sexuality.
The Church also emphases rights to adequate housing; clean water, and secure, nutritious food; education and access to culture, transportation, basic health care. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 151-166
Individual Responsibilities
In human society, to one man’s right there corresponds a duty in all other persons: the duty, namely, of acknowledging and respecting the right in question. Those, therefore, who claim their own rights, yet altogether forget or neglect to carry out their respective duties, are people who build with one hand and destroy with the other. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 156
Subsidiarity
Subsidiarity is the principle that each element of society should serve its proper purpose, and support others in serving theirs, the over-arching goal being to encourage and enable the authentic human development of the individual.
One consequence of this principle is that each individual, and smaller groups of people, should be allowed and expected to make for themselves all the decisions that can responsibly be left to them, rather than to larger groups or greater authorities. A premise of this principle is that we are each responsible for our own salvation, within the limits of the gifts and the challenges with which God has endowed us. This is one of the fundamental social teachings of the Church, since it helps to ensure that each individual is empowered to find his or her own way to God.
Families, Individuals, and Civil Society
It is impossible to promote the dignity of the person without showing concern for the family, groups, associations, local territorial realities; in short, for that aggregate of economic, social, cultural, sports-oriented, recreational, professional and political expressions to which people spontaneously give life and which make it possible for them to achieve effective social growth. This is the realm of civil society… This network of relationships strengthens the social fabric and constitutes the basis of a true community of persons, making possible the recognition of higher forms of social activity.
The political community is established to be of service to civil society, from which it originates… This vision is challenged by political ideologies of an individualistic nature and those of a totalitarian character, which tend to absorb civil society into the sphere of the State. The political community and civil society are not equal in the hierarchy of ends. The political community is essentially at the service of civil society and, in the final analysis, the persons and groups of which civil society is composed.
The State must provide an adequate legal framework for social subjects to engage freely in their different activities and it must be ready to intervene, when necessary and with respect for the principle of subsidiarity, so that the interplay between free associations and democratic life may be directed to the common good. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 185, 417, 418
Subsidiary governments: provinces, municipalities, territories, & Aboriginal societies
The principle of subsidiarity is opposed to various forms of centralization, bureaucratization, and welfare assistance, and to the unjustified and excessive presence of the State in public mechanisms… Just as it is gravely wrong to take from individuals what they can accomplish by their own initiative and industry and give it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of right order to assign to a greater and higher association what lesser and subordinate organizations can do. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 185
Civil Rights & Liberties
The party states that:
– the values most Canadians share in all the provinces and territories, which are part of our great Canadian heritage, are greater that the values on which we are divided
– it believes that all Canadians should have the freedom to travel freely, and to move to any location in the Country, to work, to vacation or to retire wherever they desire in this great land. It also believes that they should be fully entitled to all the benefits offered by the Government of any province where they choose to live and that they should have a reasonable expectation that those benefits will be similar, no matter which province they choose to live in. It will fight for the standardization of benefits throughout the Country so that this type of disparity is eliminated.
– it advocates working with the federal government to amend the Federal Constitution to include Property Rights, as well as to guarantee that no person shall be deprived of their just rights without due process of law and full, just and timely compensation.
Social & Civic Institutions
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on the roles, purposes or rights of social or civic or institutions.
Civil & Human Rights
The party states that:
– it supports protection of free speech on campus. Universities and colleges that do not support and defend freedom of expression on campus will be defunded. Taxpayer money will not be used to support places of censorship and intimidation.
– it opposes vaccine mandates and passports. While medically-approved inoculation should be encouraged, and vaccines offered to all British Columbians, individuals should not be mandated or coerced into receiving any medical treatment against their will, and fired government employees (including nurses) should be hired back immediately.
– it opposes identity politics. Identity politics is a divisive ideological force that must be rejected. British Columbians should be treated equally regardless of their race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. Programs that discriminate based on these characteristics must be disbanded.
Social & Civic Institutions
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on the roles, purposes or rights of social or civic or institutions.
Civil Liberties & Human Rights
Among its six core principles, the party advocates:
– acknowledging that all humans have a fundamental right to health, wellbeing, and freedom
– protecting and valuing all cultures and individuals while conserving variety in the natural world
The party further states that:
– British Columbians need to renew their commitment to fighting for inclusion and equity across our province and in every aspect of our society
– it is committed to ensuring that every British Columbian is treated justly and has the means to thrive in society.
– systemic racism and gender inequities exist in BC, and it will take systemic change to ensure that we move beyond words to achieve the outcomes we all wish to see. It will continue to put forward systemic solutions to systemic issues with evidence-based policies.
– to accomplish systemic change, stimulus spending should target opportunities to correct the underrepresentation of certain genders or demographics in specific sectors, such as caring professions and trades. It should apply a “Gender Based Analysis Plus” (GBA+) and Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Act (DRIPA) lens in policy development and implementation, address structural inequalities in wages, and build on the work underway to develop a suite of genuine progress indicators to provide a more holistic view of the health of our economy.
The party advocates:
– restarting the Police Act review that was set aside when the prior government called an election. This would include a review of all provincial police force contracts, a comprehensive analysis of funding, the depth of policing activity in BC and the roles and responsibilities of law enforcement.
– reviewing procedures for wellness checks in consultation with Indigenous and BIPOC organizations, advocates and health professionals, with a goal of expanding the use of integrated mental health crisis teams in BC for mental health wellness checks.
– inviting the BC Human Rights Commissioner to do a study on the impact of police violence and racial discrimination on Indigenous peoples in BC.
– better collection of disaggregated demographic data as required to better understand disparities in our society, for health, education, housing, and employment outcomes in particular.
– provincial recognition of the International Decade for People of African Descent and carrying out the requests of the BC Advisory Committee on the UN Decade for People of African Descent (IDPAD).
– re-introduction of legislation to ban conversion therapy in BC.
– introduction of equal pay legislation.
– addressing barriers to accessing contraception by making prescription contraceptive products free for those under 25 and removing the PST on all prescription contraceptive products.
– introduction of a BC Accessibility Act, including actioning the themes of breaking down barriers; advancing human rights; and promoting fairness and equity.
– permanent core funding for the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre in order to support indefinite, integrated care for survivors. This funding would be part of a larger strategy that establishes a new funding model for medical and police integrated sexual assault services, ensuring communities across BC can establish clinics that meet their needs.
Civil Rights & Liberties
Temporary Restrictions under COVID
The party states that:
– crisis management during the COVID pandemic was disproportionate to the harms of the virus and caused more damage than it helped to cure. While the province was fortunate to have a measured and rational public response guided by the Public Health Officer when required, along with some of the most relaxed restrictions in the world, the climate of fear carried on once the crisis had past caused great, possibly irreparable, harm. This harm can be measured in increased overdoses, suicides, social isolation, drug abuse, domestic violence, poverty. We see it in the loss of livelihoods, homes, relationships. The play of children has been disrupted, and elders have been left to die alone. British Columbia is suffering.
– of course every single one of the 230+ deaths directly caused by COVID in BC was a personal human tragedy. It’s also important to note that Vancouver alone lost over 14,000 small and medium sized businesses, many of them are never to return. That’s tens of thousands of jobs and so many livelihoods now laying in ruins. Dreams and hopes for the future reduced to rubble.
– studies found no relation between lockdown restrictions and COVID infection. The harm of lockdowns, however, was very real.
– we should remain ever mindful of the tendency for governments to find emergency powers incredibly useful in achieving their unrelated goals – goals that could not be achieved through the regular functioning of democratic participation. Tolerating emergency powers for long periods of time raises the prospect that such powers become permanent, as with Bill 19, with an irrecoverable loss for civil liberties.
Free Speech
The party states that:
– freedom of expression is the foundation of all freedoms. It has inherent value; every individual experiences life in a unique way and should be free to share that experience with others. Moreover, our society has long seen the value in Free Speech. History is replete with examples of controversial, unpopular, or even illegal ideas eventually coming to redefine the course of history, uplifting humanity in the process. The free exchange of ideas is necessary for individuals and societies to test out good and bad ideas alike, to advance in knowledge, and to challenge the received wisdom of an era, for the benefit of all. Robust debate breathes life into the intellectual struggle.
– in the absence of free speech, historically, societies have turned to violent confrontation over competing ideas, values and beliefs. The protection of freedom of expression must extend even to the protection of offensive or hurtful ideas, so that these hurtful thoughts stay in the realm of words and discussion, and that we as a society can unpack them, assess them, and discard them. Our culture is increasingly losing its value for freedom of expression and there is a growing intolerance toward free speech, manifesting as counter-protests and even violence. As intersectionality and “cancel culture” become a dominant cultural force, we risk losing the ability to discuss and engage critically with some of the most crucial issues of our time
– it believes that all individuals are entitled to equal treatment under the law, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or religious belief. This is a long-standing classical-liberal principle that libertarians hold dear. We have long been champions of fairness and equality under the law, or by society at large. The foundations of our society – the rule of law, protection of private property and the person – can and must be applied to every person regardless of aforementioned characteristics.
– as such, it also rejects laws or cultural norms that seek to raise one identity group above another. This leads us inevitably to a rejection of institutional intersectionality; people must be considered as individuals first and foremost. Intersectionality refers to an ideology which seeks to redistribute social, political, and economic power along the lines of race, gender, and sexuality. It does away with meritocracy. In fact, individuals are organized according to an entire spectrum of oppression. The more oppressed an individual’s race, gender, or sexuality is said to be, the higher they rise in the hierarchy of intersectionality. If an individual can be identified as having several “intersecting” marginalized traits, they may verily walk as royalty among the adherents to this peculiar philosophy. Justice, in this view, must consist of taking social, economic and political power away from the privileged (by force if necessary) and giving it to the marginalized, not taking into account the agency, decisions, or capabilities of individuals in either group.
– ultimately this kind of redistributionist and heavy-handed ideology must be rejected because its sustenance requires violence. Marxism must be rejected because it says the most important characteristic about a person are those immutable traits which they have no will or control over. Cancel culture, violence-against-speech, and the whole basket of hardcore authoritarian ideals must be rejected because it elevates the perceived wants of the so-called community over the needs of the individual. It reduces individuals to faceless representatives of a “group.”
– all such things stand in contrast to the libertarian’s commitment to the defense of individual liberty, and the British Columbia Libertarian Party is proud to reject collectivism and defend freedom of speech.
The party advocates:
– fostering an environment and culture within all government institutions respectful of diverse viewpoints and free expression
– ensuring universities have robust free-speech policies with tangible enforcement mechanisms, using financial pressure as necessary
– identifying and eliminating any recruitment or hiring policies within government based on race, gender, or sexuality, “Critical Race Theory”, and so forth
Civil Rights & Liberties
The party states that:
– it is building a better, more inclusive British Columbia
– It is proud to stand with LGBTQ folks, but also believes actions speak louder than words
– during the 1990s it formed BC’s first government with an out gay MLA, and first to bring in adoption rights and pension benefits for queer couples
– in 2019, six NDP MLAs were LGBTQ
– it has re-established the BC Human Rights Commission, and made it fully independent
– it has made it easier for British Columbians who do not identify as either male or female to display an X marker in the gender field of their BC driver’s license, identity card, birth certificate, and BC Services Card
– it believes that all students deserve to be welcomed, included, and respected in a safe learning environment while being fully and completely themselves, and that all of BC’s school districts have adopted SOGI 123.
– it joined a call for a federal ban on conversion therapy
Social & Civic Institutions
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on the roles, purposes or rights of social or civic or institutions.
(FOR REFERENCE ONLY. PARTY HAS ANNOUNCED ITS WITHDRAWAL FROM THE ELECTION. CHECK CANDIDATE LISTINGS AND CONSIDER ALTERNATIVES BEFORE GOING TO THE POLL.)
Civil Liberties & Human Rights
The party states, as a matter of principle, that:
– every individual has value
– life and liberty are a fundamental and inviolable right, and that everyone is born equal to enjoy life in a tolerant society that respects their individuality and freedom of speech, religion, and assembly
Social & Civic Institutions
The party has released no official statement concerning its policies on the rights or purposes of social or civic or institutions.
Points to Ponder: Rights & Responsibilities; Subsidiarity
A conscience well formed by the social teachings of the Church will seriously consider the following questions:
Civic & Individual Rights & Responsibilities
It is clear that the nation and the provinces owe their citizens great respect for each of a broad range of human rights. But with rights come responsibilities. In fact, a right is nothing other than the flip side of an obligation (responsibility). And while individual citizens have rights, the civil community as a whole also has rights, which means that individual citizens have some fundamental obligations towards the civil community as a whole (the nation).
In that light, we can ask:
1. What responsibilities do individuals have toward their communities, provinces, the nation, and the world? For example:
a) to what extent are citizens called to live sustainable lifestyles, for example by conserving energy, avoiding waste, and ensuring that they minimize their impact on future generations?
b) what should citizens look to their governments for, to encourage or enable sustainable consumer lifestyles?
c) To what extent are citizens called to:
i) participate in society, for example through informed voting, continued engagement with candidates and elected representatives, and keeping up responsibly with the news?
ii) lend a hand to their neighbours, for example by volunteering at home or within the community, in addition to paying taxes?
2. Can our governments do anything to enable or encourage citizens to contribute by volunteer service?
3. Under what conditions, if any, is it morally right to require health care providers to participate in morally questionable practices such as abortion or assisted death, when it is contrary to their understanding of morality or their religious beliefs?
In addition to human and civil rights, many parties speak of things British Columbians and others “deserve.”
1. How do the parties determine what citizens do or do not deserve? Do they apply predictable, objective criteria in making such determinations, or can such determinations sometimes seem arbitrary and unfair, or, in the context of elections, opportunistic? What criteria should be applied?
2. As the list of our defined political rights expand, how do we reconcile conflicts between them?
Government and Civil Society
1. Should the powers of the Federal government be expanded or reduced?
2. Should the powers of the Provincial government be expanded or reduced?
3. Is there too much government intervention in Canada or too little?
4. Or, should the powers of government be redistributed in order to ensure that individuals, public interest groups, and service organizations have opportunities to employ their lives and talents in the service of others, and the common good?