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We are a group of Ontario-based Humanists with a passion for social justice, civil and human rights, and environmental action, who have established a provincially-based organization to complement the work of Humanist Canada and local Humanist groups.
If you are concerned with Human and Civil Rights issues in secular society, such as Pro-choice, One School System, Equal Marriage, Gender issues, Dying with Dignity, Environmental justice, Science education, Intellectual Freedom and other progressive issues, we may be able to connect you with other volunteers, speakers and organizations. See our WELCOME page for more information.
We welcome your contributions and comments. We invite you to subscribe to our News blog (box at the upper left), and to join our Facebook Group
UPDATE: Barlow condemns Harper’s closing of Lakes research program.
Globe and Mail reports, “The federal government is closing a research station scientists have used for decades to study how pollutants like acid rain and phosphates affect lakes. The Experimental Lakes Area is in Northwestern Ontario, about 250 kilometres east of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since 1968, government and university scientists have used its 58 small lakes to test hypotheses about freshwater ecosystems. One experiment has been running for 40 years.
Employees were told Thursday, said Roberto Quinlan, a biologist at York University… David Schindler, a professor at the University of Alberta, said employees were told that the facility will be closed as of March, 2013, and that universities, not governments, should be doing this kind of science.”
As noted on the Experimental Lakes Area website, the purpose of the program is:
-To better understand global threats to the environment through knowledge gained from whole-ecosystem, experimental, scientific research
-To monitor and demonstrate the impacts of human activities on watersheds and lakes
-To develop appropriate environmental stewardship strategies for the preservation, restoration and enhancement of ecosystems
-To educate and promote environmental protection and conservation through an integrated approach to ecosystem stewardship
The news article notes, “The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada is criticizing the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for withdrawing funding from the Experimental Lake Areas program. ‘A region of remote lakes has been dedicated, since the late 1960s, to whole-lake ecosystem research. It has been the site of groundbreaking studies into the effects of pollutants, acid rain, freshwater aquaculture, and hydroelectric dams on freshwater ecosystems,’ the union said in a news release. …John Smol, a professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, said closing the facility is a ‘travesty, not just for Canada but for the rest of the world’. He said data from experiments carried out at the lakes ‘were critical in showing we can’t have phosphates in detergents and that acid rain causes marked ecosystem changes.’”
Rick Heller – Loving-Kindness on the Brain.
Here is a discussion of altruism, morality, empathy, and neuroscience. The event is at Harvard Humanists, but you can read about the research below. Some relationship to Alain Botton and others…
Paul J. Zak is founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University. He has a Ph.D. in economics from University of Pennsylvania, and post-doctoral training in neuroimaging from Harvard. Dr. Zak’s lab discovered in 2004 that an ancient chemical in our brains, oxytocin, allows us to determine who to trust. His new book is The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity. Dr Zak will be speaking at the Humanist Community Center in Harvard Square on May 20, 2012. Here is his popular Ted talk and an interview he did with The New Humanism.
“…In experiments run over the last 10 years, in my lab and in the field, we’ve shown that the brain chemical oxytocin is released when someone is nice to us in objective ways (for example, when a stranger shares money with us). Oxytocin is the mammalian signal that tells mothers (and in some species fathers) to care for their offspring. It is the chemical basis for parental love. What we’ve shown is that oxytocin release is stimulated by acts of kindness or trust by complete strangers. The feeling people get when their brains release oxytocin is one of empathy or emotional connection.
TNH: You write that empathy is the product of a brain circuit you call HOME (for Human Oxytocin Mediated Empathy). How does this brain circuit work?
Zak: Oxytocin does not work alone. It activates a brain circulate that makes it feel good to do good for others. The HOME circuit does this by giving us a feeling of pleasure when we help others and by reducing our anxiety when we have a positive social interaction. Our brains are designed toengage with strangers and to care about them. This is what it means to be a social creature… (more discussion about empathy and meditation in the story…)
Also: Here is a companion article on Humanist Contemplative Meditation
ACTION ALERT: Help keep the Great Lakes great
The Ontario government will soon be introducing a Great Lakes Protection Act to protect the lakes and improve people’s connection to the lakes. They are consulting with community groups, First Nation leaders, mayors and environmental experts so we need to demand real protection for our Great Lakes now!
Despite several important cross border agreements and the hard work of many environmental organizations, the Great Lakes are still in serious trouble. Multipoint pollution, climate change, over-extraction, invasive species, and wetland loss are all taking their toll on the watershed that provides life and livelihood to more than 40 million people and thousands of species that live around it.
We need to demand real action from the Ontario government. The Council of Canadians is calling for a new vision of the Great Lakes that recognizes that the Great Lakes are a ‘commons’ to be shared, protected and managed by those living around them. The Great Lakes Commons need to be protected by a legal and political framework based on public trust principles, underpinning in law that the Great Lakes are central to the very existence of those people, plants and animals living on or near them and therefore must be protected for the common good from generation to generation. The Great Lakes also need to be designated a protected bioregion, recognizing that while there are many political jurisdictions governing the Great Lakes Basin, it is, in fact, one integrated watershed and needs to be seen and governed as such.
LETTER HERE:
Tell the McGuinty government you want real change in Great Lakes protection and support declaring the Great Lakes as commons, public trust and protected bioregion!
GSA Rally Brings out the Kids | politics | Torontoist
At Saturday’s rally, high school GSA founders took their message of support and solidarity to Queen’s Park:
“I want to say to the religious right: ‘You’re not right. You’re the religious wrong.’”
This declaration, made by human rights lawyer and Salaam Canada co-founder El-Farouk Khaki to the crowd of more than 150 that descended onto Queen’s Park for Saturday’s rally in support of the Liberals’ tabled anti-bullying bill, was met with rousing applause. Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act, would guarantee students the right to form Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) across the province. The rally, dubbed “GSA? OK!—An Ontario GSA Coalition Rally,” was held in this spirit.
While representatives of the labour movement, human rights initiatives, religious organizations, and the political sphere were all present to voice their support for the legislation that would protect GSAs in Ontario’s schools, the speakers whose message resonated the loudest were three high school students who shared their experiences of forming GSAs in Toronto-area high schools.
Koch Brothers’ Activism Protects Their 50-Year Stake in Canadian Heavy Oils | InsideClimate News. Sent from an intrepid member!
….At the top of the list are the Koch family’s long and deep investments in Canada’s heavy oil industry, which have been central to the company’s initial growth and subsequent diversification since 1959.
By David Sassoon, InsideClimate News: May 10, 2012
Over the last decade, Charles and David Koch have emerged into public view as billionaire philanthropists pushing a libertarian brand of political activism that presses a large footprint on energy and climate issues. They have created and supported non-profit organizations, think tanks and political groups that work to undermine climate science, environmental regulation and clean energy. They are also top donors to politicians, most of them Republicans, who support the oil industry and deny any human role in global warming.
What is less well documented are the many Koch businesses that benefit from the brothers’ efforts to push the center of American political discourse rightward, closer to their own convictions. At the top of the list are the Koch family’s long and deep investments in Canada’s heavy oil industry, which have been central to the company’s initial growth and subsequent diversification since 1959.
Because Koch Industries is a privately held company, the public has little access to information about the depth and diversity of its Canadian oil sands holdings. Over the past several months, however, InsideClimate News has pieced together a rough picture of the company’s involvement in the industry, using published reports from the National Energy Board of Canada; documents and data extracted from the website of Canada’s Energy Resource Conservation Board; securities disclosures and filings of Koch businesses in Canada; court documents from an inheritance battle that pitted Charles and David Koch against their two other brothers; Canadian and U.S. media reports; company newsletters and press releases; and two books, one written by Charles Koch and the other the autobiography of a long-time Koch company director.
These sources reveal that Koch Industries has touched virtually every aspect of the tar sands industry since the company established a toehold in Canada more than 50 years ago. It has been involved in mining bitumen, the hydrocarbon resin found in the oil sands; in pipeline systems to collect and transport Canadian crude; in exporting the heavy oils to the U.S.; in refining the sulfurous, low-grade feedstock; and in the subsequent distribution and sale of a variety of finished products, from jet fuel to asphalt. The company has also created or collaborated with other companies that have become leading players in the development of Alberta’s oil resources, and it remains deeply invested in western Canada’s oil patch.
Koch Industries declined to answer any questions for this story.
The Kochs are also active in Canadian politics.
Their company recently added another lobbyist in Alberta to lobby the provincial government about energy and resource development issues. The Kochs have also been longtime contributors to the Fraser Institute, an influential policy shop closely allied with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as bullish as he is on the development and export of oil sands crude to global markets. They contributed $500,000 between 2007 and 2010 alone.
NEWS: Likely BC NDP premier set to oppose Northern Gateway, CETA, health care cuts, Prosperity Mine. (and more potential resistance to Enbridge…)
Postmedia News reports, “B.C. New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix is predicting a ‘businesslike’ relationship with Prime Minister Stephen Harper should he win next spring’s provincial election even though he’s investigating ways to challenge a critical component of Harper’s economic plan — Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway pipeline megaproject.”
“Dix said Friday he’s assembling a legal team headed by Vancouver lawyer Murray Rankin, a specialist in aboriginal, natural resource and environment law, to consider his options to oppose the controversial $5.5-billion pipeline proposal now before a federal review panel.”
“Dix also is an outspoken critic of federal policy on criminal justice, Canadian-European free trade talks and health-care transfers. …Dix said the government’s unilateral reduction in the growth of health transfers, and support for a proposed Canadian-European trade deal that could trigger higher prescription drug prices, could cause problems in the provincial health-care system.”
“But he reserved his toughest words for the government’s handling of environmental reviews of two controversial natural resource projects: Calgary-based Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline and Vancouver-based Taseko’s New Prosperity gold-copper mine.”
Sustainable Development vs. Free Trade: Council of Canadians joins environmental, labour and civil society groups in defending Ontario’s Green Energy Act from WTO challenge.
sent by a member – an interesting amicus brief today..
“This morning, environmental, civil society and labour organizations sent a joint amicus curiae (friend of the court) submission to the WTO supporting Canada’s defence of the Ontario Green Energy Act. The landmark 2009 renewable energy and climate change policy is being attacked at the WTO by Japan and the European Union, with backup from the United States, who all claim that it involves illegal (under WTO rules) subsidies to local producers of wind and solar equipment and services. The first hearing into the case, which pits climate change and trade liberalization obligations against each other, took place in Geneva in March 2012. There’s a second hearing tomorrow and Wednesday where rebuttals will be heard.
Japan and the EU say they see nothing wrong with Ontario’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing renewable energy production and shutting down coal-fired plants. But they take offense to domestic content requirements that wind and solar power suppliers must meet in order to qualify for feed-in-tariff rates set by the Province. The EU is also pressuring Ontario to remove domestic content quotas from the Green Energy Act and other provincial contracts through the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations with Canada. The WTO challenge is likely a way to add pressure to Ontario and other Canadian provinces to fully commit hydro and transit agencies, as well as their municipalities, to rigid procurement rules forbidding the use of public spending as a local development tool.
In other words, Japan and the EU oppose the idea of sustainable development, which says that environmental protection can and should be combined with economic development and job creation objectives as the Green Energy Act was designed to do. If they win their case at the WTO, there will be implications for sustainable development policies globally, which is why this dispute is garnering global attention.
The Canadian groups involved in the amicus curiae submission — Blue Green Canada, the Canadian Auto Workers, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union of Canada, the Council of Canadians and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union — believe strongly that Ontario is right to use public spending on electricity to try to develop green infrastructure and green jobs. We believe it is the right of all countries to use procurement in creative ways to address the multiple crises facing our world — from climate change to food insecurity to financial instability.
Our joint submission to the WTO was prepared by Steven Shrybman, trade and public interest lawyer with Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP, and member of the board of the Council of Canadians. (read more about the brief at the link above)
Humanist Association of Toronto: HAT Monthly Meeting: Doug Gibson.
 HAT Monthly Speaker Meeting
Saturday, June 9, 2012 1:30 – 3 pm OISE, 252 Bloor Street W
“Stories About Storytellers: publisher Douglas Gibson shares his experiences of working with some of our greatest writers.”
“No one has done more for Canadian Literature than this man, Douglas Gibson.” — Alistair MacLeod
“Douglas Gibson is a living link to the foundation of our country’s literature, and also an impish and charming performer. His lifelong passion for these great writers is contagious.” – David Cheoros, Director, Edmonton Litfest
For more than 40 years, Douglas Gibson has been at the forefront of Canadian literature, most notably during his time as Publisher of McClelland & Stewart from 1988 to 2004. He has worked behind the scenes with some of the greatest writers and personalities of our time: Alice Munro, Pierre Trudeau, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Mavis Gallant, Hugh MacLennan, Peter C. Newman, Brian Mulroney, Morley Callaghan, John Kenneth Galbraith, Paul Martin, James Houston, Peter Gzowski, W.O Mitchell, and many more. His book “Stories About Storytellers” is full of touching accounts of working with these luminaries; in a thoroughly entertaining manner he will share his experiences with us.
Canada News: Cohn: How Tories walked into a wedge on gay-straight alliances – thestar.com.
It was supposed to be the issue that brought MPPs together, like bringing students together in the classroom.
Instead, anti-bullying legislation has become the biggest single flashpoint at Queen’s Park. A bitter debate over gay-straight alliances in schools has driven MPPs apart, opened a wedge in the Tory caucus (possibly encouraging a defection), and sparked a parade of bigotry in public hearings.
Now, the opposition Tories have taken a bizarre stand against gay-straight alliances — voting against a Liberal government bill requiring school boards to back student requests for GSA support groups.
The wrangling over bullying started soon after the last election, when the Liberals and Tories brought in competing bills after a rash of suicides (notably by gay students). Ever since, MPPs have been berating one another in the anti-bullying debate — taunting, tweeting, sulking and shouting (or heckling, as parliamentarians call it).
The Liberals and Tories both had good ideas in their bills. But when it came time to blend their legislation, both sides got their backs up.
Soon, mere partisanship degenerated into faith-based folly. And fringe fundamentalism, like fringe politics, brings out the worst in both politicians and preachers.
This week, a Queen’s Park committee room became a gathering place for self-styled religious leaders who have railed against GSAs as nests of iniquity. I guess they don’t watch Glee on TV.
They can’t fathom the notion of fellowship clubs where straight kids can commiserate with gay kids about bullying. Instead, they fantasize about homosexual seduction scenes and wild orgies conducted under a teacher’s supervision on school property…Instead of making schools safe for GSAs, Tory antics have made the legislature a safe place for a culture war against anything gay… So let’s allow the Tories to speak for themselves on the issue.
PC education critic Lisa MacLeod says she’s not opposed to gay-straight alliances. She just opposes the idea of requiring schools to set them up when students make the request.
budget bill implementation action alert.
Several members have forwarded information about attempts to get the Harper government to allow scrutiny of the omnibus budget bill – OHS President Gail McCabe says: The Omnibus Bill tabled as a budget bill by the Feds is over 400 pages long. They have moved to suppress meaningful debate and discussion of these issues, and Humanists are concerned about lack of input into these deliberations.
Here is a letter you can sign from the LeadNow campaign.
And Here is some news, and another action from the COC, below:
The Canadian Press reports, “New Democrat MPs have begun slipping procedural knots over Parliament in a bid to prevent the Harper government from speedily passing its massive budget implementation bill. The NDP triggered a series of procedural delays Wednesday, just two hours after the government rejected the official Opposition’s proposal to split the 400-plus-page bill up into manageable chunks that could be scrutinized more closely. NDP House leader Nathan Cullen said more obstacles will be rolled in the government’s path in the days to come. The legislative roadblocks are aimed at preventing the government from proceeding with a second-reading vote on the omnibus bill planned for Monday. …After the second reading vote, the bill is supposed to go to the Commons finance committee for closer study. The government has refused to allow the disparate parts of the bill to be examined by different committees with expertise in each of the various subject areas.”
Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson writes, “In response to the Tory intransigence, the NDP now plans to use every means at its disposal to delay passage of the bill – ideally until after the House rises in late June for summer recess…
To respond to the Council of Canadians action alert directed at all Members of Parliament drafted by trade campaigner Stuart Trew -
ACTION ALERT: Split up the budget: Environmental and border policy changes need a full debateL -CLICK HERE. Trew writes, “We need to put pressure on the Conservatives to do the right thing by democratically debating all of these non-budgetary, highly controversial items separately instead of rushing them into place in an anti-democratic omnibus law. …The Harper government is refusing to split up the budget bill, which is expected to pass by June 8 or by June 22 at the latest.: Read four campaign blogs on the budget implementation bill
Oil Sands And Foreign Money: ForestEthics Says Foreign Money Dominates Oil Patch.
(of interest, as the Star Reports the RCMP spying on the Yinka Dene alliance, and other attempts to characterize local environmental groups as ‘foreign’, it appears that the OIL INDUSTRY is also ‘offshore’….}
An environmental group that has come under fire for its anti-oilsands work is pointing out how many of the benefits of Canada’s energy industry flow outside the country.
ForestEthics Advocacy, which recently gave up its charitable status, says nearly three-quarters of oilsands production is foreign owned.
It says more than 40 per cent of the profits from oil and natural gas in Canada goes to foreign-owned companies.That’s more than twice the average of all other sectors in the Canadian economy.
The group says the federal government should manage the energy industry for the benefit of Canadians, not foreign investors.
accepting foreign funding.
ACTION ALERT: Tell the Museum of Nature to Rethink Partnership with Barrick Gold!.
ACTION ALERT: Tell the Museum of Nature to Rethink Partnership with Barrick Gold!
(this action forwarded by a member of the COC)
Amidst reports of human rights violations and massive public opposition to the environmentally destructive operations of Barrick Gold around the world, it is shocking that the Canadian Museum of Nature would undertake a partnership with the notorious multinational mining company.
The Canadian Museum of Nature is a largely publicly funded institution that states the following about its objectives: The purpose of the Canadian Museum of Nature is to give Canadians an opportunity of discovering and understanding the natural world and how to live in balance with it.
This partnership is an attempt by Barrick Gold to improve its public image and influence public opinion. It severely undermines the ability of the Museum of Nature to serve the public interest and educate about the natural world.
Barrick Gold has used its political influence to lobby against regulatory oversight of the environmentally and socially harmful practices of mining companies here in Canada and around the world.
You can use the letter template or send your own message to the President of the Museum of Nature demanding that the Museum reconsider the partnership with Barrick Gold. The COC also suggest writing on the Canadian Museum of Nature facebook page, or if you live in Ottawa, attending the People’s Exhibition of Barrick Gold.
Humanists are invited to join the Humanist Association of Toronto this Saturday, April 28, for their discussion group:
SHOULD RECREATIONAL DRUG USE BE LEGALIZED IN CANADA?
- What distinctions can/should be made between different drugs?
- What role should age play if legalization occurs?
- If legalization occurs, should tourists to Canada be allowed to use recreational drugs?
- Should the agricultural or commercial production of recreational drugs qualify for existing government support and marketing programs?
The event takes place at the OISE Building, 215 Bloor St W., from 11am-1pm. The event is scheduled to take place in room 415 (check with the desk on the main form to confirm).
One of the event’s organizers commented:
I chose the topic about legalizing drugs because I was interested in hearing ideas from other members. I do not know much about the experience of other jurisdictions that have liberalized regulations. We would certainly welcome anybody with first-hand knowledge on the topic, especially if they have spent time recently in The Netherlands.
The Council for Secular Humanism has posted an interesting article on why atheists must work for social justice.
An excerpt:
When you conclude that there are no gods, I would argue that one of the implications is a demand that we work for social justice: an end to extreme poverty, political disempowerment, government corruption, gross inequality in economic opportunity, misogyny, racism, homophobia, and so on.
Read the full article here.
Voices-Voix Canada is a non-partisan coalition of Canadians and Canadian organizations committed to defending our collective and individual rights to dissent, advocacy and democratic space. The Ontario Humanist Society is a member of the Voices-Voix coalition.
Members may be interested in being involved with the following event:
You may already be a member or supporter of the Voices-Voix Coalition or aware of our work. Perhaps you are not aware of Voices-Voix but you are deeply concerned about the state and health of human rights advocacy, democracy and dissent in Canada. If so, we hope you will be able to join us for a meeting on May 11th to discuss these concerns and help craft a strategy for responding to the many ways that democratic principles and human rights institutions and organizations are being undermined and weakened in the country.
The meeting will be held at: PSAC Building, 1st floor, 233 Gilmour Street, Ottawa on Friday May 11, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. There will be a telephone hook-up for individuals outside Ottawa.
The meeting will review the many reactions and responses from civil society to these deeply troubling developments over the past several years, with a focus on the numerous concrete steps announced of late (through the March 2010 budget and other measures) to restrict the space for voices of dissent in Canada. We will review the impact and discuss anticipated challenges arising from measures such as defunding and targeting programs, projects and organizations involved in advocacy and social justice.
We will discuss a proposal for an important, substantive conference in the fall of 2012 to look at these issues and consider in greater depth both short and long-term strategies for responding. We hope that individuals will come prepared and interested in joining us in organizing that conference as well as taking part in the ongoing work of the Voices-Voix Coalition.
For more information about this meeting, click here.
A call for action from Environmental Defence. Since 1984, Environmental Defence has been inspiring change by connecting people with environmental issues that affect their daily lives in their homes, workplaces and neighbourhoods.
Enbridge has asked for permission to reverse the flow of its oil pipeline through Ontario.
The ‘Line 9‘ pipeline runs from Sarnia to Montreal, crossing countless sensitive ecosystems and farms, as well as numerous watersheds draining into the Great Lakes. Reversing the flow and increasing the pressure in the pipeline, as proposed by Enbridge to transport more corrosive tar sands oil, increases the chance of a spill.
Just two years ago, a similar Enbridge pipeline in Michigan spilled three million litres of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River, causing major contamination downstream. We can’t let this happen in Ontario and need your help.
Send a letter to the National Energy Board now. Make sure you have a say in Ontario’s energy future – the deadline to have your voice heard is April 23
This project is part of a much bigger plan to export more tar sands oil to the U.S. and could increase the risk of oil spills, as well as threaten our health though increased air and water pollution at local refineries. Enbridge’s proposal will likely increase the amount of tar sands oil in Ontario. Tar sands oil creates more global warming pollution and chemicals that are harmful to humans than conventional oil and is more corrosive and dangerous to transport through pipelines.
Please consider adding your voice to those opposed to this.
Bluewater District School Board Ban On Gideon Bible Handout Sparks Torrent Of Hate Mail.
[Perhaps we should have a statement of support for them? M]
TORONTO – A public school board’s decision to ban distribution of Gideon Bibles to its young students has unleashed a torrent of threatening calls and hateful emails directed at trustees.
Some messages to the Bluewater District School Board express racist sentiment and question trustees’ patriotism.
“When are you ‘politically correct’ idiots, with your heads buried in the sand, going to realize that every action you take to destroy Canadian heritage…?” one email began.
“Allowing newcomers to Canada the ability to walk all over our heritage has got to stop before they carry us into the realm of a warring nation like the one they often left behind,” another writer said.
The invective has unnerved some trustees as they prepare to formalize the ban on distribution of all non-instructional religious materials prompted by a parent’s complaint about the decades-old tradition of offering free Gideon Bibles to Grade 5 students.
Trustee Fran Morgan called the “onslaught” of messages “really disturbing,” and said it has made her uneasy about driving the 30 kilometres to board meetings at night by herself. “I really do feel threatened by it,” Morgan said from Griersville, Ont. “It’s been very unpleasant.”
The Bluewater board, with more than 18,000 students in 53 schools across a broad swath of southern Ontario territory, is expected to formalize the ban at its meeting April 17, following in the footsteps of several other boards across Canada.
Ban proponents argue distribution of the Bibles has no place in a secular school system, and that it potentially violates human-rights legislation.The board nixed the idea of allowing any religion to hand out materials on the basis it would suck up scarce resources and could be legally risky.
One writer blamed the decision on “a handful of non-Christian elected officials.” Board chairwoman, Jan Johnstone, admits the vitriolic responses — some urging trustees to “watch your back” — are unnerving.”People do crazy things,” Johnstone said. “They see Christianity as a fundamental part of their Canadian identity.”
Another wrote one trustee: “How is that you agree with God’s 10 Commandments and yet you have broken them countless times, you hypocrite!”Gideons International, an evangelical Protestant association based in Nashville, Tenn., has been placing its Bibles _ comprising a New Testament plus the books of Psalms and Proverbs from the Old Testament _ in Canadian public schools since 1936.
Kelvin Warkentin, a spokesman for the Gideons International in Canada, acknowledged times have changed. “Over time, due to the religious fabric of our country being re-woven, school boards have begun to re-evaluate their policies on this tradition,” Warkentin said.
Although one trustee received a phone call he thought was tantamount to a death threat, the board has so far not referred the matter to police, but a spokesman said the situation was being monitored.
Trustee Kevin Larson, who would have preferred all religions be allowed to distribute materials, said he was “disappointed” by some of what he’s seen. However, those views are in the minority, and two leaders in the religious community have apologized for the hateful expressions, Larson said.
COHA meeting: Mon April 2 at 7PM, Barrie Public Library, Angus Ross Room.
TOPIC: Dr. Christopher Guest talk about male circumcision.
Central Ontario Humanist Association welcomes guests, and your first three meetings are free. Doors open at 6:30, presentationat 7 PM. We will be accepting food donation for the Grocery Assist Program.
Dr Christopher Guest will be discussing the historical origins of ritual circumcision and how it became a common medical procedure in the late 19th century. He will also examine the medical debate surrounding circumcision and examine how this practice may conflict with contemporary medical ethics and human rights.
UPDATE: Duelling Queen’s Park protests planned over GSAs.
Just got this notice, so the protest was March 29 – Ryerson students now joining. group of religious parents will protest the Accepting Schools Act, Bill 13, at Queen’s Park March 29. Across the lawn, a group of queer activists will also protest, calling on the government to implement the bill, which would mandate gay support groups in all publicly funded schools.
Members of conservative religious group Concerned Catholic Parents distributed a news release with the list of speakers who will attend its protest. These include Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College; Dominic Tse, senior pastor at North York Chinese Community Church; Campaign Life Coalition’s Jack Fonseca; Family Coalition Party leader Phil Lees; and Alphonse de Valk, the editor of
The counter-protest has also been coordinated and queer activists have been alerted. Find details here. Organizer and Trans Lobby Group activist Christin Milloy says she is standing in solidarity with the students and those supporting Bill 13. “It doesn’t matter if it’s just me and two other people standing on the sidelines. Just because there’s more of them doesn’t mean they’re right,” she says.
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