Busy 2021 for CFIC

Leslie Rosenblood

On December 23, Humanist Canada organized Canada’s first HumanLight celebration, bringing together humanist organizations from across the country. Our efforts in 2021 to champion the values of reason, compassion, and secular values span more than any previous 12-month period for CFIC. Slowly, step by step, more and more Canadians, along with its laws and institutions, are coming around to embrace a humanist philosophy.

Some examples:

• June 2018: The Supreme Court ruled that discrimination is not a protected religious right. Trinity Western University wanted to open a law school and demanded that sexual intimacy be restricted to married couples, where marriage is defined as between one man and one woman. The Supreme Court decision stated that provincial law societies were permitted to refuse to allow graduates of the program to practice law in their province.
• In December 2018, Canada’s Blasphemy law was repealed, thanks to cooperation between CFIC, Humanist Canada, and Canadian Secular Alliance. One must be patient — we met with government about this two years earlier, in December 2016.
• In December 2019, a settlement was reached for the first time in Canada that secular sobriety programs — ones that do not invoke God — are equally valid to 12-step programs that do. CFIC and the British Columbia Humanist Association supported Byron Wood, who was directly affected by this restriction.

2021 was a busy year for CFIC. Check out our many virtual presentations, available to all for free:

• Secularism in Canada
• Fusion: The Ultimate Power Source
• The Untold Story of Mother Teresa
• How to Talk to a Science Denier

CFIC held two national virtual conferences, and hosted the third annual Protecting Blasphemers event. We continued to offer recurring events that all are welcome to join, including Living Without Religion, Secular Community Network, and a non-fiction book club — check out the CFIC Virtual Branch on Meetup.

Throughout 2021, CFIC published its Cost of Religion series of reports, which thoroughly analyzes the financial cost of a single government policy: allowing the advancement of religion to be a charitable goal. The price tag is astonishing: over five and a half BILLION dollars, every year. Canadians have been generally shocked at this enormous cost, and CFIC was in the media across the country throughout the year as a result of our findings.

Look for more from CFIC in 2022, including our new Podcast for Inquiry, available now wherever you get your podcasts. Here’s to a great 2022!