Latest Announcements

Recovering from Religion (RfR) plans to establish permanent chapters in Canada, and the Centre for Inquiry Canada (CFIC) is pleased to announce that we’ll be cooperating with them to establish their first in-person meetings in Ottawa this fall. CFIC’s role will be to help set up and promote their meetings, as well as recruit local volunteer facilitators.

Founded in 2009 by psychologist and author Dr. Darrel Ray, RfR provides support to people who have experienced trauma as a result of their religious upbringing or who are struggling with themselves, their families, or loved ones as they consider leaving their religion. In addition to in-person meetings, primarily in the United States and Australia, RfR offers global virtual meetings and a 24-hour support line. If you’re interested in training to become a volunteer Support Group Leader in Ottawa or wherever you are, you can contact RfR directly through their website.

We already have two volunteers in Ottawa ready to start training, and we’ll be holding a Zoom meeting for other potential volunteers later in September. If the Ottawa pilot goes as well as expected, CFIC and RfR hope to establish chapters in other Canadian cities in the future.

Volunteering for Centre for Inquiry Canada (CFIC) helps keep critical thinking, science, secularism, and human rights alive in your community. 

CFIC requires our volunteers to become a CFIC member. The annual fee is usually $45 CAD for an individual or $60 for a household, but because of our charitable status, all memberships and donations over $25 CAD are eligible for a CRA tax receipt. 

For those whose circumstances make paying the membership fee financially challenging, we offer “earned memberships” for volunteers who commit to contributing a minimum of only 4 hours per month. Volunteering for CFIC can take many forms: 

• Co-host or act as a helper for an upcoming virtual or in-person event.
• Propose, plan, or run a new event of your own.
• Arrange for CFIC to participate in an activist march, protest or public campaign, such as our ongoing fight to eliminate public funding for religious school boards in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta.
• Write articles for Critical Links, help with data analysis, fundraising, offer to be an assistant webmaster, or offer your talents in other ways.
• Take on a leadership role at the branch or national level.

Fill in the Volunteer Application Form, and our team will be in touch to discuss ways that you can make a difference. You can also become part of CFIC’s new Volunteer Academy, where we’ll provide ongoing training and involvement.

It’s been an incredibly busy and exciting season of growth for the CFIC Ottawa Branch.

In August, CFIC hosted a weekend-long showcase room for various organizations at the 2026 World Humanist Congress (WHC) at The Westin Ottawa. This included a dedicated CFIC table staffed by local ambassadors, with CFIC President Edan Tasca and Past-President Seanna Watson both in attendance as delegates. A CFIC volunteer also drafted the script for the Humanist Ottawa (HO) Walking Tour for congress delegates, and CFIC purchased portable amplifiers for the tour guides.

Beyond our monthly Skeptics in the Pub, which we co-host with HO on the first Tuesday of every month, we’ve brought back Skeptics in the Park by popular demand. To complement our weekly Online Secular Chat based in Ottawa West, we also held the first of what we hope will become a regular in-person Secular Brunch. CFIC volunteers even helped run the HO booth at the Capital Pride Street Festival.

As mentioned in the separate article, CFIC is now cooperating with Recovering from Religion (RfR) to help find volunteers and launch their first support meetings in Ottawa this fall. To help spread the word, CFIC and RfR have printed business cards and are designing a new retractable roll-up stand to promote the shared Secular Groups in Ottawa website, which we proudly co-sponsor.

Here’s what we have coming up in September on Meetup so far:

• Skeptics in the Pub, Tuesday, Sept 1, at 7:00 PM at The Lieutenant’s Pump. 
• Online Secular Chat, every Wednesday from 6:30-8:00 PM EDT. 
• Progressive Walking Tour of Ottawa, on Saturday, Sept 5 from 12:30-2:30 PM, based on the HO walking tour from the WHC, and free to anyone who joins the mailing list for our Critical Links newsletter by that day. 
• Skeptics in the Park, on Saturday, Sept 5 from 3:00-5:00 PM at Minto Park, immediately following the walking tour. 
• Secular Brunch, on Sunday, Sept 19 from 12:00-2:00 PM at The Lieutenant’s Pump.
• Recovering from Religion Zoom meeting for potential Ottawa volunteers (Date TBD)

We’re actively building up our community in the National Capital Region with more in-person meetings, and we want you to be a part of it!

Dear CFIC Supporters,

This August, the World Humanist Congress in Ottawa will bring together humanists, skeptics, freethinkers, and secular advocates from around the world—and Centre for Inquiry Canada will be there.

Now we’re looking for a small team of enthusiastic CFIC members who will be in Ottawa between Aug. 7–9 and would be willing to spend a few hours helping staff our display at the WHC. You do not need to be attending the WHC to help out (but helping won’t get you admission; our booth is located outside the Congress).

This is a chance to be an ambassador for CFIC: welcoming visitors, introducing people to our work, answering questions, and helping us connect with people who share our commitment to reason, science, secularism, and human rights.

You don’t need previous experience. We’ll make sure you’re prepared by providing:

• Free volunteer training before the Congress.
• The opportunity to become part of CFIC’s new Volunteer Academy, where we will provide ongoing training and involvement in CFIC events across Canada.
• A complimentary one-year CFIC membership as our thank-you for your contribution.

Even a few hours of your time can make a real difference. Every conversation helps raise awareness of CFIC, builds our community, and strengthens the humanist movement in Canada.

If you’re planning to attend the World Humanist Congress and would like to volunteer, we’d love to hear from you. Simply email info@centreforinquiry.ca and let us know you’re interested. We’ll follow up with training details and scheduling information.

Join us in showing the world what CFIC is all about. Together, we can make our presence at the Congress welcoming, engaging, and memorable.

We hope you’ll be part of the team!

Warm regards,

John Lombard
Executive Director
Centre For Inquiry Canada
ned@centreforinquiry.ca

Hello everyone,

I hope you are well and enjoying the merry month of July.

I am reaching out regarding the World Humanist Congress 2026, which will be held in Ottawa from August 7–9, 2026. The Congress organizers are asking secular friends in the Ottawa area to organize and lead a series of short walking tours for attendees from around the world.

This promises to be a remarkable event. We are expecting participants from more than 40 countries, and over 425 people have already purchased tickets.

—URGENT APPEAL—

We are currently looking for volunteers to serve as walking tour guides. The tour script is being prepared, so guides do not need to be historians or experts on Ottawa. What we are looking for are friendly, enthusiastic people who can serve as warm ambassadors for Ottawa and Canada.

The tours will last approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. We also plan to offer a shorter, more accessible route for participants who may find longer walks challenging.

The walking tours will take place on Friday, August 7. They will highlight some of Ottawa’s best-known landmarks and attractions, including Parliament Hill, the National War Memorial, the Rideau Canal locks, the National Gallery, and the Human Rights Monument. The tours will depart in groups beginning at 1:00 p.m., with the final tour leaving at 5:00 p.m. Any assistance you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

If you are interested in volunteering, please RSVP as soon as possible. Friends and family members who would like to assist are also very welcome.

We are also exploring the possibility of recruiting high school students who require volunteer service hours for graduation. If you have experience with this process or know how it works, please get in touch. This may be another excellent source of volunteers.

Thank you for your consideration and support. We look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Richard Thain
rglthain@gmail.com
613-851-8337