Robert Buckman was a world-renowned Oncologist, writer, comedian and activist. Dr. Buckman supported many national and international humanist, atheist and skeptics association including being a founding member of Centre for Inquiry Canada. Dr. Buckman’s TV series “Magic or Medicine” investigated alternative medicine. His book and TV documentary “Can We Be Good Without God? Biology, Behaviour and the Need to Believe” explained the neurology and evolution of belief. Dr. Buckman believed it was essential to show that a code of ethics can exist without a deity.
Dr. Henry Morgentaler is perhaps best known for his role in changing the laws which made it illegal for women to seek abortions. What many people may not realize it that his involvement in this cause sprang from his membership in the Humanist Fellowship of Montreal, an organization which “promotes improving society through reason, scientific inquiry and compassion.” In 1967, Dr. Morgentaler spoke to a House of Commons Committee on behalf of the Humanist Society to argue for the rights of pregnant women to seek safe abortion procedures.