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 AdriaansKeeping 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
CFIC’s Greater Sudbury Branch
Centre for Inquiry Canada (CFIC)’s Greater Sudbury Branch welcomes a community space in Northern Ontario for discussions, educational events, lectures, and activities that promote reason, critical thinking, evidence-based inquiry, scientific skepticism, secularism, and humanist values.
Join our Meetup to get updates on future activities and events. Find us on Facebook! Our username is @cfisudbury. You can also chat with us on Discord!
If you have any suggestions, email us at slucas@cficanada.ca.
CFIC Goes to Reason Rally 2016
Reason Rally – June 2016 Washington DC
Back in 2012 did you hear about the first Reason Rally only AFTER it happened? Did you watch the youtube clips and wish you’d attended?
On Saturday, June 4th, 2016 tens of thousands will again stand together at the Lincoln Memorial to celebrate shared secular values. Professor Richard Dawkins, Dr. Eugenie Scott, James Randi, Cara Santa Maria and others will be on-stage alongside social justice advocates, politicians, musicians and celebrities.
As members of the CFI Canada community for science and secularism, we have an opportunity to share the experience of this world-renowned event. We can share rides, share rooms and build our community as part of a Canuck Contingent.
If you would like to participate or organize a trip to the 2016 Reason Rally in Washington…please send us an email via ned@centreforinquiry.ca. Don’t let another year slip by!
