From the Cradle to the Grave
You Can Take Action and Be Involved During A Critical Period of Human Rights History in Canada!
Understand The Issues Two organizations have led this important initiative: BC Civil Liberties Association and Dying With Dignity. CFIC recommends that you follow these organizations throughout 2015 to understand the process. As a critical thinking inquiry, CFIC also proposes that its members examine “Cradle to the Grave” approaches of the religious community and the healthcare system (first noted in Eric Adriaans post on Canadian Atheist). Religious organizations such as Campaign Life Coalition make it clear that they are interested to control not only members of their religions – but all people from the moment of conception to the end of “natural life”. There’s a striking connection in the language used by health care system to describe its priorities (http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/185450/a-cradle-to-grave-health-care-system-that-works/, http://theagenda.tvo.org/blog/agenda-blog/cradle-grave). When people are interested to convince an audience, it is important to use common language and connect on values and shared priorities. CFIC has already asked if religions may be a vector for public health hazards. We’ve also asked our members to respond to the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons consultation on its Professional Obligations and Human Rights Policy. We note that the college has posted a Planning for and Providing Quality End of Life Care document on their website. Monitor the Process and Contribute Your Perspective Effective July 2015, the federal government has assigned a 3-person panel to advise on the matter of physician-assisted death. According to a CBC report, “Harvey Max Chochinov, the Canada research chair in palliative care at the University of Manitoba, will head the panel. The other two members are Catherine Frazee, a former co-director of the Ryerson-RBC Institute for Disability Studies Research and Education, and Benoît Pelletier, a University of Ottawa law professor and former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister.” An FAQ regarding physician assisted dying has been posted by the federal government (http://ep-ce.ca/en/faqs/#q1) which indicates online tools will be developed to seek public input. The place to obtain information: http://ep-ce.ca/en/Dying With Dignity and Assisted Dying Media Reports and Articles
1. http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Dying+with+Dignity+chair+shocked+over+loss+charitable+status/10746027/story.html 2. http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Dying+with+Dignity+Canada+loses+charity+status/10744422/story.html 3. http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/after-cra-audit-dying-with-dignity-group-stripped-of-charitable-tax-status-1.2197251# 4 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/suicide-plan/CFI Canada Post October 15, 2014
This day has been decades in the making. The 1993 decision in the Sue Rodriguez case upheld the federal law criminalizing members of the health care profession who assist sick and dying Canadians end their lives.
This October, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear compelling testimony in the Carter Challenge in support of medically assisted dying. Everyone is invited to participate in this historic moment.
Dying With Dignity Canada is the largest national organization in our country promoting quality end-of-life choices for Canadians who are grievously ill, have incurable illnesses, and are facing profound suffering before they die.
DWD’s rally in Ottawa is taking place at the Supreme Court of Canada (301 Wellington St, Ottawa) Time: 12:30 PM Date: October 15, 2014
Click here for more information about this and other DWD events.
CFI Canada Discourse #3: Telepathy Proved !?
discourse [n,v]: the use of words to exchange thoughts and ideas
CFIDiscourse provides a forum for discussion of topics and issues related to CFI Canada’s mandate to promote science, reason, and secular values. Click for more information, or to find out how to contribute to the discussion.
The opinions on these pages do not necessarily reflect the position of CFI Canada.
One morning, as is my habit, I was catching up on email and looking at a few blogs and I came across Sean McGuire’s “My Secret Atheist” blog post about an animal telepathy event being held at the University of Saskatchewan. It’s an older post, but you can find it here:
http://www.mysecretatheistblog.com/2014/08/university-of-saskatchewan-endorses.html
It would be a really cool to have voluntary and periodic telepathic communication with some people. My blue-tooth enabled phone gives me an approximation of that….I’m able to send my spoken thoughts from just about anywhere on the planet to just about anywhere on the planet where there is a person holding a phone (presuming I know their number). Being blue tooth enabled…I can even do it with my eyes closed and without holding anything in my hand. The flashing blue light beside my ear is also rather stylish in a “I wish I was a Borg” kind of way.
My reaction to human-to-animal telepathy is less enthusiastic. I’ve had many pets over the years, so even if it’s true that it’s possible, I wouldn’t expect to be on the receiving end of a lot of wisdom by accomplishing it. I rather suspect anybody opening themselves up to the receiving the thoughts of Fluffy are in for a barrage of “Want some of that.” or “Go out now.” and probalby even “This smell is interesting.” But hey, if folks want to waste a bit of money at an event on a “skill they can learn”…well, its their own money they’re wasting (exept of course, the grant money also being spent on this rather annoys).
But then, when I read this information from the host:
The Animal Communication presentation and workshop is the start of my research program examining how communication with animals may help contribute to a deeper appreciation and affinity for the environment, and greater environmental sustainability. It is part of my larger research program examining how Indigenous and other ways of knowing can be recognized, valued and establish their place as legitimate forms of knowledge in academic and modern Western contexts. Indigenous Peoples often have a way of knowing and communicating with nature, animals and the environment as a whole that is very different from main-stream and Western society.
I was struck by just how egregious the situation can be. Really? Human-to-animal telepathy is connected to appreciation for the environment and greater environmental sustainability? And it also connects with valuing indigenous people? To be frank, my skepticism of telepathy didn’t make this event or the blog post much more than a curiosity….in recent discussions of CFI Canada’s priorities (and yes, such strategic discussions are certainly happening from the board-level down), telephathy, whether human-to-animal or human-to-human, didn’t register even once.
But wait, I also came across this article with the headline “Is this proof that humans have TELEPATHIC powers? Two men, 4,600 miles apart, send messages to each other using just their minds”:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2747131/Is-proof-humans-TELEPATHIC-powers-Two-men-4-600-miles-apart-send-messages-using-just-minds.html
I’m not a scientist, but I’ve figured out in my short time at CFI Canada that scientists publish their work in journals. The Daily Mail (Mail Online) article referenced the journal PLOS One, so I looked up the study
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0105225
What is described is not exactly what “comes to mind” when someone says the word “telepathy”. For those of you who may not read the article, here’s a quick excerpt:
In a series of experiments, we established internet-mediated B2B communication by combining a BCI based on voluntary motor imagery-controlled electroencephalographic (EEG) changes with a CBI inducing the conscious perception of phosphenes (light flashes) through neuronavigated, robotized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), with special care taken to block sensory (tactile, visual or auditory) cues
B2B means brain-to-brain; BCI means brain-computer intervace, CBI means computer-brain interface. Again, I’m not a scientist, but I think this means that some electrodes collecting information from one person, transferred that information to a computer and via internet to another computer which sent input to another person. The result, apparently was that:
In both cases, the transmitted pseudo-random sequences carried encrypted messages encoding a word – “hola” (“hello” in Catalan or Spanish) in the first transmission, “ciao” (“hello” or “goodbye” in Italian) in the second
In other words, they communicated hello and good bye to each other while blindfolded – and through a computer. I like that the messages were only “pseudo-random” and that the “streams of pseudo-random bits representing the words “hola” and “ciao” were successfully transmitted mind-to-mind between human subjects separated by a great distance, with a negligible probability of this happening by chance”. Indeed.
So what’s the point of doing a CFI Discourse on all of this? Well, recently some of our CASS members have had email dialogue regarding scientific journals and the need for some critical thinking in terms of our approach to published scientific articles; we’ve also had strategic dialogue about ensuring that CFI Canada continues to provide educational training in critical thinking. So telepathy is really just a convenient platform to put the question out there….what are we going to do to make sure there is more critical thinking training going on in our organization? Let’s put our heads together on this, shall we?
Eric Adriaans
Montreal Pride
Proud of CFI Canada in Montreal
As National Executive Director, I have the privilege to engage with members, volunteers and supporters across the country. It’s something I very much enjoy and appreciate. This weekend I was warmly received by a fantastic group of people who also followed through to impress me deeply with their passion, energy and vision. What an amazing group of people.
Joan Bancroft, Badr Hadrioui and a team of volunteers stretching to Ottawa, Peterborough all put together a great demonstration of that vision. Summing up the experience, Joan said, “This little community of ours is a powerhouse…three consecutive days of CFI/Pride programming and you all gave of your time and yourselves to make it so impactful. Think of what we can accomplish by next year? I think of how our community can grow, the friends we’ll make and the conversations our work together will start. Change, on a societal/interpersonal and individual level can be difficult to measure-we can’t always know when/if/how an “intervention” (exposure to a text, interaction in a conversation, attendance at a lecture) will lend itself to a change in attitude or belief, but it matters that we try. It matters that we show up, that we engage ourselves and others in difficult and important conversations. I commend and thank you CFI Montreal, and our support and leadership in Ottawa and T.O- for showing up, and for embracing me. On to the next!”
On a personal level, I was very interested to meet people from diverse backgrounds such as a secularist interested in Human Rights from the UK, a theist who is very opposed to blasphemy laws and others who have their individual reasons for caring about the work that CFI Canada does. I frequently ask others, “Why is CFI Canada the most important place?’ and every time I meet people, I hear the many reasons and ways that people care about the organization and other people. Humans and Individuals really do matter so much.
Eric Adriaans
Keeping Religion out of Schools in Alberta
On July 22, 2014, Ms Blog posted an article by Simone Lieban Levine “”Canadian Teen Gets Abstinence-Only Education Class Cancelled”. The article describes efforts by an Edmonton high school student, Emily Dawson and her family to have a mandatory abstinence-only workshop removed from her school. Congratulations and well done to Emily and Kathy Dawson!
We particularly want to echo Simone Lieban Levine summary comments: “Perhaps the actions of Emily Dawson and these American students signal a new student-led movement against ignorant and inaccurate sex education. It’s high time for only the real facts of life to be taught in schools.”
Ms Blog and Simone Lieban Levine deserve applause and support for posting the article and for reporting on this story and for advocating facts rather than faith in our schools.
You can find the original article here : http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/07/22/canadian-teen-gets-abstinence-only-education-class-cancelled/
The Dawson’s victory should encourage organizations like CFI Canada as well as its individual members and volunteers to stay involved to keep religion and faith-based bigotry out of publicly funded schools.
Consumer Education and Advocacy
The words health and wellness are sometimes used as code words for pseudo-medical remedies created to replace or falsely-augment medically proven treatments for minor and major diseases. Centre for Inquiry Canada has launched Health and Wellness Check Up, a campaign designed to investigate claims by the purveyors of alternative products and treatments to promote “health and wellness.”
CFI Canada’s campaign is designed to work for you and with you to investigate practitioners with questionable business and/or clinical models selling treatments with no measurable medical benefit.
This is CFI Canada’s most ambitious campaign to date and CFIC needs your help to investigate and expose any treatments and services that encourage people to bypass medical treatment that promotes measureable health and wellness.
CFI Canada is very concerned about the incursion of pseudo-science in medicine and medical education. Do you have similar concerns about pseudo-science in medicine? Contact us today at ned@cficanada.ca or let us know through social media using the hashtag #CFICheckUp.
Please get involved or make a donation to help us in the inquiries featured below!
Pictured: Yellow Pages Group Ad spotted at a Toronto subway station.
Questionable Health Services: Dangerous Dilutions Project
CFIC inquires into the dangerous growth of homeopathy and other pseudo-scientific health service providers. What are the responsibilities and accountabilities of these businesses when they have real health impacts in the lives and deaths of their clients. CFI Canada contends that homeopathy is a dangerous dilution of healthcare in Canada.
Current Inquiries
- Skull Suture Manipulation For Children with Autism or ADHD: An Inquiry
- Hippocrates Health Institution: An Inquiry into Questionable Health Services
Questionable Health Education: Pseudoscience in Health Services Education
Robert French and CFIC in Vancouver’s work to combat the incursion of pseudoscience into healthcare and education! There appears to be a growing trend for pseudo-scientific educational programs to gain recognition through accredited universities, arms-length government bodies and independent, self-appointed oversight organizations. What protections are in place for prospective students to be certain they are receiving a valid education and what protection is in place for the unsuspecting public when these students enter the marketplace to sell their services?
Current Inquiries
Questionable Health Products and Devices: Regulation of Medical Devices in Canada
Dr. Terry Polevoy brought disturbing information about a device called Celsius42 (Tumour Cell Solution) to our attention in December 2014! Our members have responded to help CFI Canada and Canadians understand how Health Canada’s system of protection works and what gaps and problems may exist.
Questionable Health-Risk Claims: Pseudo-science Scare Tactics
Health-risk claims get airing by main-stream media whether they are backed by evidence or not. CFIC documents and presents here examples of health-risk claims from recent media that do not have clear evidence; CFIC recommends that Canadians seek verifiable evidence from respected health sources before making health decisions of any kind:
- Cell Phone and Wifi Radiation
- Vaccinations
