The Following Position Papers and Policy Statements may be downloaded from the links below, or read on this page following the list of statements.
1) OHS EDUCATION FUNDING STATEMENT (MARCH, 2010)
2) OHS ONE SCHOOL SYSTEM FUNDING POLICY (update, JANUARY, 2011)
3) OHS INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING POLICY ACCESS TO ABORTION STATEMENT (MAY, 2010)
4) OHS SEX EDUCATION IN ONTARIO STATEMENT (OCTOBER, 2010)
5) OHS LGBTQ STATEMENT (JANUARY, 2011)
6) OHS SAME SEX MARRIAGE POLICY (JANUARY, 2012)
7) OHS STATEMENT re ENBRIDGE NORTHERN GATEWAY PROJECT REVIEW (JANUARY, 2012)
OHS Brief to OHRC: TOWARDS AN INCLUSIVE DEFINITION OF CREED (January 12, 2012)
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1) OHS EDUCATION FUNDING POLICY STATEMENT MARCH, 2010
The Ontario Humanist Society endorses the following principles and policies regarding education funding in the Province of Ontario:
1. That all public education funding in the Province of Ontario be committed to the support of one unified non-sectarian education system. Such an education system for all students in the Province at the elementary and secondary levels provides the environment for our multicultural populace to collaborate with each other for the benefit of all of our peoples.
2. Research has demonstrated that a unified public education system promotes the respect for diverse groups, and sensitivity to the needs and traditions of others that is fundamental to this sort of collaboration. Further, it influences individual attitudes, reducing the negative effects of stereotyping and prejudice, while promoting positive interaction between individuals across cultural groups.
3. The broad-based curriculum delivered through the unified public education system must include:
a. studies in the sciences and technology to promote creative and critical thinking skills that will result in innovation and solution-based research, and
b. studies in the humanities and social sciences to promote communication and relationship skills that will result in greater understanding of the diverse traditions of our multicultural population and the global populace beyond our borders.
A comprehensive curriculum that delivers these capacities has the potential to prepare our citizens to address the complex problems that have and will continue to arise in the future, whether social, environmental, economic or political in nature.
Taken together, these initiatives make for a qualitatively superior educational experience. Our best hope for the future survival of our human species is the collaborative model supported herein and exemplified through such institutions as the United Nations. On these accounts, it is an obligation of government to ensure that this broad-based education initiative is fully supported through effective policies and adequate financial resources.
We live in a country that guarantees to all of us through its Charter of Rights and Freedoms the freedom to practice the religion of our choice, or not to practice any religion at all. It is a right that we cherish for all of our peoples. In order to preserve this entirely Canadian tradition, it is our view that the practice of religious faith as a personal choice should be separate from the practice of activities in the public sphere directed to the entirety of the population, since such activities preclude the individual choice not to participate in religious practices.
ONTARIO HUMANIST SOCIETY
Gail McCabe, President
March 6, 2010
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2) OHS POLICY STATEMENT on PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING (update JANUARY 2011)
When the establishment of Separate (Roman Catholic) and Public (Protestant) school boards was first mandated, we lived in a different society, and at a different time. This act may have secured equal funding to education in the 19th century. But as the United Nations has informed us, we are now in contravention of universal Human Rights. In the modern multicultural world, it is time to discard this outmoded legislation, for both economic and social reasons, and to support One School System – which is open to all, accepts all, and educates all equally.
The Ontario Humanist Society wishes to state our unequivocal support for a school system that provides equal rights and privileges for all students and teachers in the Province of Ontario. This is only achievable by having one public school system.
In the interests of brevity and clarity, we include the following major points:
1. The cost to deliver education will be substantially reduced and yield a quality experience that is more sustainable over the long term.
2. The service, especially in lightly populated areas, will be improved, a more equitable outcome to students no matter where they reside in the Province.
3. Our children will be able to grow up knowing children from other traditions, thereby increasing familiarity and tolerance between groups.
4. This will eliminate giving special privileges to a single identifiable group at the expense of any others; both children and teachers.
5. Our tax dollars will not be used to subsidize the education of children into a belief system we do not all share.
In conclusion, Ontario is home to a multicultural society. Given that circumstance, the Ontario Humanist Society supports education that allows children to learn about multiple cultures including the religions and traditions that stem from those cultures. When this sort of education is provided through a sociological lens through one public school system, children also come to recognize that they have a shared culture that unifies them as citizens of Ontario.
Gail McCabe, President
Ontario Humanist Society,
January 25, 2011
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3 ) OHS: INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING and ACCESS TO ABORTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Policy Statement and Press Release
The following news report appeared on CBC News on April 27, 2010:
Every year, almost 42 million women have an abortion, according to the United Nations. The international organization also notes that every eight minutes, a woman in a developing country dies from complications stemming from an unsafe abortion.
The majority of unsafe abortions are performed in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
Before the G8 meeting in Halifax, Canada’s federal government said that while it would support family-planning measures, including contraception, it would not fund abortions in its child and maternal health-care initiative for developing countries.
It is the position of the Ontario Humanist Society that our assistance to developing countries should comprise a fully integrated family planning strategy that must include full access to safe abortions when required. The decision on whether an abortion is to take place must ultimately be made by the woman herself in the absence of any third-party coercion.
After years of struggle Canadians have succeeded in decriminalizing abortion in Canada. To deny the same right to women in developing nations is to deny them a right we give to our own citizens. Canadians must resist this sort of misuse of our tax funds in support of the politically motivated aspirations of a government in power at home without even the semblance of majority support in the country or the Commons. The Conservative Party’s domestic and political considerations are being prioritized over global responsibilities. The Harper government is inserting its ideology and by so doing, is slowing progress on the stated G8 and G20 goals.
Those opposed to legal abortions must recognize that women in desperation will continue to seek abortions even if illegal and unsafe. It should be clear to everyone that abortions are never resorted to on a whim,and are, rather, a medical necessity that must be allowed, considering that unwanted pregnancies are, in fact, the outcome of rape, coercion, lack of access to birth control, inadequate knowledge or social pressures on women. Rather than preserving the right to life as anti-abortionists would want, the failure to offer abortion services which are open, safe, early and legal will only condemn many women to death at the hands of untrained abortionists.
A humane and responsible policy is only possible when abortions are openly and legally available and where we promote them through our social policy not only at home but abroad as a feature of the services we will fund in support of maternal health in developing countries.
We urge the Prime Minister to reconsider his decision to exclude abortion from the maternal health initiative.
Gail McCabe
President, Ontario Humanist Society
May 19, 2010
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4) OHS SEX EDUCATION IN ONTARIO STATEMENT
The Ontario Humanist Society (OHS) supports the proposed 2010 revisions to sex education in Ontario. As the government is rethinking the curriculum, we strongly encourage that the final version retain the following admirable features of the original proposal:
Proactive: By discussing issues of sexuality with children before they experience the difficult and confusing changes of adolescence, the proposed curriculum will help them to cope with those challenges when they do reach puberty.
Holistic: The curriculum integrates the medical implications of sex with the emotional aspects of a relationship, encouraging adolescents to consider all factors in deciding how intimate to get with a partner.
Non-judgmental: The proposed curriculum does not tell students what decisions to make about their own sexuality. Instead, by informing students of the many reasons to delay sexual activity, including risks of pregnancy and disease as well as issues of person comfort, it helps them to make their own decisions responsibly.
Inclusive: The proposed curriculum acknowledges different forms of sexuality, most notably sexual orientation. As early as Grade 3, even before they consider the mechanics of sex, children can understand the special relationship of a loving couple, and can appreciate that such couples may include two men, two women, or one of each. Later, when they become aware of their own sexual orientation, this should help gay as well as straight children to understand their developing urges.
Gail McCabe, President
Ontario Humanist Society
October, 2010
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5) OHS LGBTQ RIGHTS STATEMENT
The Ontario Humanist Society (OHS), a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU),
Supports and endorses the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) resolution on Gay Rights (LGBTQ), passed in Toronto in 1994, stating:
1. the IHEU affirms that one of its main aims is to secure justice and fairness in society and to eliminate discrimination and intolerance.
2. that this extends to all people regardless of their beliefs, sex, sexual orientation, or race.
Gail McCabe
President, Ontario Humanist Society
January 13, 2011
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6) OHS SAME SEX MARRIAGE POLICY
The Ontario Humanist Society (OHS) , a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), notes some recent questions of clarity concerning the rights of same sex couples who have been married in Canada, but who may be resident in countries or jurisdictions where same-sex marriage is not currently available.
We trust that this matter has been, or will soon be, fully resolved by the government of Canada, so that there is no more confusion about the rights of such couples to enjoy the same legal protections regarding marriage and divorce available to all couples who are married in Canada. We also trust that there will be timely communication to all Canadians on this matter, to resolve any perception of unequal treatment.
In light of these events, however, we feel moved to restate our full and non-equivocal support for equal treatment for all couples regarding family and matrimonial law in Canada
THEREFORE:
The Ontario Humanist Society (OHS),
reminded
that the basic right to equal marriage has been established in Ontario following the June 10, 2003 Ontario Court of Appeal decision making same-sex marriages legal in Ontario,
reaffirms
Humanism’s long established support of equal rights for all persons, regardless of gender or sexual affiliation,
and states
our firm support of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the rights of marriage and divorce:
UDHR Article 16.
* (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
* (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
As Canada is a signatory to the UDHR, and to other instruments and treaties guaranteeing freedoms and basic rights to all persons, we state unequivocally that the same rights regarding marriage, divorce, and family law shall apply equally to all persons in Canada.
Gail McCabe, President
Ontario Humanist Society
January 13, 2011
