Kelowna MLA’s bill to repeal BC Human Rights Code quickly voted down
Another Armstrong bill fails
Colin Dacre – Feb 26, 2026 / 1:22 pm | Story: 600905
Photo: BC Legislative Assembly
Tara Armstrong in the BC Legislature on Thursday.
Another bill from Kelowna-area MLA Tara Armstrong has been voted down at the earliest possible opportunity.
Armstrong, independent MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream, tabled the Human Rights Code Repeal Act Thursday in the legislature.
“The purpose of this bill is to end the assault on freedom of speech by our human rights tribunal,” she said.
Armstrong’s bill was motivated by a recent $750,000 fine issued by the BC Human Rights Tribunal against former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld over his comments about LGBTQ people.
The ruling came after the BC Teachers’ Federation and Chilliwack Teachers’ Association filed the human rights complaint against Neufeld in 2017 on behalf of their members, specifically those who identified as LGBTQ from October 2017 through 2022.
They sought $750,000 to be distributed equally among those members, and the decision says the tribunal was satisfied the award was appropriate.
Armstrong, on Thursday, said the repeal of the BC Human Rights Code “is the only solution to this assault on our rights.”
“This bill will protect the freedom of speech of Canadians. It will abolish the Human Rights Tribunal, a kangaroo court, and repeal the Human Rights Code that the left is using to punish and profit from anyone who doesn’t adopt their views.”
Like several bills proposed by Armstrong so far, it was dead-on-arrival in the legislature and was voted down at first reading with 50 votes opposed and 37 in favour. The BC Conservative caucus voted in support.
First reading politicized
Legislation has traditionally been granted first reading in the house as a courtesy to encourage debate. Conservative MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson Ward Stamer, after his party voted in support of Armstrong’s bill last week to ban youth gender transitions, told Castanet News his party has decided to continue that practice in an effort to avoid the “politicization” of first reading and allow the public to see bills.
In a news release Thursday after the vote, the BC NDP acknowledged “it is rare to vote against bills at first reading,” but pointed to other issues—like a ban on land acknowledgements or to cancel the stat holiday for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation—that the Conservatives voted against at first reading.(Castanet, February 26, 2026)