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Critical Thinking may be the most important tool in the toolbox to push back against world events that have gotten out of control.

The Centre for Inquiry Canada provides practical information for Canadians about why critical thinking is important and how to be a better critical thinker. Faced with complex issues such as globalization and division, wars, populist game-playing, and misinformation from both domestic and international sources, our world, now more than ever, has a critical need for critical thinking

CFIC promotes ethical actions. We share information that helps people to understand the ethical implications of decisions that they make, and work towards win-win solutions

CFIC helps to equip people with the skills and mindset to tackle complex problems, make informed decisions and contribute to a more rational, ethical and sustainable world. Your support helps us to do more. This December, please make a tax receiptable donation to CFIC in support of Critical Thinking.

Click here to make your tax-deductible contribution.

For more on Critical Thinking please see:

Suggested books for Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking Resources

Too Good to Be True? Fact check the good stuff too

Research Before You Research Predatory Journals

Check your Outrage – How to avoid unintentionally spreading misinformation

A picture says 1000 words…Whether True or Not: How to Fact-Check Photos 

Fighting Misinformation – Essential fact-checking resources

How Minds Change – With David McRaney-  Podcast for Inquiry

CFIC has been working with other secular organizations to promote a petition to end the public funding of separate Catholic school boards. We have been able to extend the deadline for submissions. If you can possibly obtain more signatures, please do. 

We have received some questions about the petition and are happy to provide some answers:

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Q – Why do we have to use a paper copy and mail it?

A – This standard requirement comes from the Province of Ontario. 

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Q – I’ve e-signed government petitions in the past. What’s different now?

A – The Federal government permits the use of e-petitions. They may also be used by other provinces. However, the Province of Ontario only accepts paper copies of petitions with original signatures. 

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Q – Why not just use an online petition program?

A – Online petitions are a way for people to express an interest in a topic. However, they have no legal standing and generally are not helpful in promoting a cause.

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Q – Alberta and Saskatchewan also have publicly funded Catholic school boards. Why is this petition only for Ontario?

A – One of our members arranged to have a petition presented to the Legislative Assembly in Ontario. We have supported this member to get signatures. We would welcome the opportunity to support similar endeavours in Alberta and Saskatchewan. 

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Q – You say funding the Catholic school board in Ontario costs $1.5 billion. How did you arrive at this number?

A – This is a lengthy answer. The figure of $1.5 billion a year comes from the Federation of Urban Neighbourhoods of Ontario, Ontario Public and Catholic School Merger Study, March 2012.

On the one hand, there have been some board mergers that have reduced the amount spent on board trustees, their administrative staff, etc. On the other hand, there has been inflation. So it is hard to say exactly what the current figure is, especially because the provincial government is not, shall we say, transparent about exactly what the money is spent on, beyond the broad categories. Further, Catholic school boards go across the same geographical area as public school boards. Ontario spends more money on the costs associated with having more than one board than if there were only one board for all English-speaking schools.

We also know that in general, boards with fewer students (up to a certain size) spend more money per student on administrative costs than boards with more students. All boards, no matter how few students, have certain costs: salaries of trustees and their administrative staff; facilities for the board and their administrative staff; superintendents of education and their staff; supplies and IT support across the board.

Especially outside the large cities, the cost per student of the smaller Catholic school board is more than its corresponding public school board. And even the public school board spends more per student than it would if all the students in the geographical area were represented by one board. It may be that the Catholic school board spends more per student than the public school board. This might not apply to boards such as Toronto, where even the Catholic school board is quite big. Merging would not necessarily bring economies of scale. But it would apply to enough boards that there would be savings.

The costs of bus transportation per student in Catholic school boards is generally higher than the costs of bus transportation in public school boards because they have to transport fewer students over the same area. And even public school boards might spend more on bus transportation (drivers, fuel, vehicle maintenance) than they would in an amalgamated system, because the closest publicly funded school may be a Catholic school with relatively inflated costs.

Savings would be based on eliminating duplicate administration costs, facility costs, and excess transportation costs. And of course there would be economies of scale in purchasing supplies, etc. Further, there may be under-utilized schools near each other — one in the Catholic school board, and one in the public school board. With one public school system, one school might be able to be closed, without requiring students to travel any farther.  

Suppose there were two fire services over the same geographical area. One was for everyone including Catholics, and the other one only for Catholics. Each had their own administration, fire stations, supplies, etc. And when there was a fire, instead of the closest fire station sending out a fire engine, it would depend on which fire service you were affiliated with. Wouldn’t we all agree that this makes no sense?

If all Ontario students in the English boards went to one school, there could be enough students to provide a wide variety of courses at a local high school in each town. But because the students are split between two English boards, neither board has enough students to keep the schools going in the local towns. 

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In summary:

We are proposing one public school system with English and French boards.

Please print the petition, sign, get others to sign, and (this is the most important part) return your signed petitions by mail to: 

Petitions ℅ Centre for Inquiry Canada
PO Box 83045, Ottawa RPO Bank & Walkley
Ontario  K1V 1A3

We would like to receive the petitions as soon as possible, but if you have an opportunity to get more signatures, hang on to them just a bit longer.

Note:

Please do not change or annotate the petition. Any changes, including written notations, may invalidate the form, including all signatures on the page. If you have additional questions please contact Petitions@Centreforinquiry.ca.

MPP Jessica Bell (NDP University-Rosedale) has agreed to present a petition at Queen’s Park, calling for the elimination of public funding for the Catholic school systems. We need your assistance in circulating physical copies and returning them by mail, no later than October 1, 2023, to:

Petitions ℅ Centre for Inquiry Canada
PO Box 83045, Ottawa RPO Bank & Walkley
Ontario  K1V 1A3

The text of the petition was created in partnership between CRIPE, Secular Connexion, OPEN, CFIC, and Humanist Ottawa. It was difficult to eliminate some compelling arguments for this petition, but was required to ensure there was space on the petition for signatures. When asked to select the points which could be eliminated, one committee member expressed, “That’s like asking me to choose between my children.” However, these and many other compelling reasons to discontinue the public funding of Catholic schools are available on the One Public Education Now website.

Your signature will help to ensure that this petition is presented in the provincial legislature and will attract media attention and raise public awareness. This is another step in the eventual, inevitable withdrawal of discriminatory public funding for a school system that is not open to all.

Please help us collect signatures. You can download a printable PDF here. Share the petition on social media, through email, and in any other way you can think of. If you are attending a live event, please bring copies of the petition with you. (Some have noticed that if you print directly from your browser, the margins may not be properly aligned – this can usually be fixed if you download the document then print from your PDF reader – e.g. Adobe.)

To be presented to the Legislative Assembly, a petition must meet the following rules (taken from https://www.ola.org/en/get-involved/petitions):

• It must ask for an action that is within the jurisdiction of the Legislative Assembly.
• It must use clear and respectful language.
• The text of the petition must be at the top of every page of signatures.
• All signatures must be original. They must be written directly on the petition.
• Each petitioner must print their name and address and sign their name under the text of the petition.
• Petitioners must be residents of Ontario.
• The petition must be addressed to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
• The petition must be written, typewritten, or printed. Emailed, faxed, photocopied, or online petitions are not allowed.

Please note:

Do not change or annotate the petition. Any changes, including written notations, may invalidate the form, including all signatures on the page. If you have technical questions please contact Petitions@Centreforinquiry.ca.

Imagine a world where people quake in fear when they see a shooting star, a solar eclipse, or hear thunder. Imagine creating supernatural stories to explain these natural phenomena, or believing that they required a sacrifice or blood-letting to appease the malevolent god that was causing them. We know that this world once existed and we know that it was science that freed us from these false beliefs.

In order to change the world for the better, we first need to understand how it works – otherwise our efforts are almost certain to fail. Science is the field of human endeavor that is completely dedicated to understanding (at every level) the universe we inhabit.

While the scientists among us are responsible for the investigations, hypotheses, testing, and presentation of new ideas, it is the ordinary “person on the street” who must trust in their work and make the leap to the new way of viewing the world. To do this, we must all have a basic understanding of how to distinguish real science from the pseudo-science that fills our newsfeeds. 

“We’ve arranged society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces. Who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don’t know anything about it?“

Carl Sagan

While we do not expect most people to understand the latest in theoretical physics, one needs a foundational understanding of scientific principles to tell the difference between novel applications of knowledge and con artists exploiting ignorance to peddle lies. CFIC strives to provide all Canadians the scientific literacy required to critically evaluate scientific information they receive.

CFIC does this by:

• Creating and promoting our quick guide “Is it science?” 
• Reminding our readers that not all journals are legitimate and peer reviewed (see Research Before you Research – Predatory Journals)
• Helping readers to understand the difference between legitimate, early but unproven distribution of scientific hypotheses and predatory distribution of conspiracy theories (see Science Takes Time)
• Bringing you Podcast for Inquiry episodes (on topics such as fusion, microbes, gardening, and more), Critical Links articles (such as Science Resources; and The Cost of Bad Science) and other programs (such as How to Talk to Science Deniers) that increase the scientific literacy of our members

Science matters – not just in the laboratory, but in the real world. To be effective, we must all think critically about science, understand what the current state of science can and cannot accomplish, and reject pseudo science.

If science matters to you, please donate to CFIC.

Leslie Rosenblood

CFIC was recently contacted by a Sergeant (I will use the pseudonym “Bob”) in the Calgary Police Service (CPS). He brought to our attention that many of CPS’ informal practices assume its members are Christian by default.

A few examples of how Christianity is embedded in the CPS:

• When the CPS built a new headquarters a little over a decade ago, it included a chapel. The design clearly makes it a Christian room of worship, with an altar, pews, stained-glass windows, and a Christian saint prominently displayed. A CPS document describing its intended use listed predominantly Christian ceremonies (“wedding services, baptisms and christenings”). While lip service was paid to other faiths (“Any or all of the rows can be removed to accommodate special purposes, such as First Nations ceremonies, the placement of prayer mats for Muslim prayer services”), the document makes clear that the standard, default, and assumed use of the chapel was for Christians and Christian rites. 
• Before getting married, Bob and his fiancee took the CPS couples’ course, intended to assist officers and their partners with their relationships. The instructor — a psychologist (with inflated credentials) under contract for 23 years with the CPS — stated couples with previous sexual partners cannot achieve the same level of intimacy as those that “saved themselves” for marriage. While a common Christian trope, there is no evidence that couples without previous sexual partners have happier, healthier, or longer relationships. 
• The instructor also stated LGBT couples would need a separate course “because of the number of sexual partners they have” and “they would make the straight couples feel uncomfortable.”
• Bob asked to provide a secular invocation at a service dinner in lieu of the customary Christian grace. The request was grudgingly granted, but the management team made it clear such efforts were unwelcome (loudly proclaiming “Amen” after the invocation).
• The CPS has a District Chaplaincy program. However, unlike the Canadian military (listen to Podcast for Inquiry with Marie-Claire Khadij to learn more about the Canadian Armed Force chaplaincy program), all 13 chaplains in the CPS are Christian pastors. There is no representation for other faiths, First Nations people, or the non-religious.
• Some of the CPS chaplains represent the Billy Graham Association, which believes (among other things) in evangelizing Christianity and that “marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female.” Needless to say, this is hardly inclusive of non-Christians and members of the LGBT community. 

The CPS has made some improvements in recent years:

• The chapel was renamed Memorial Hall (likely as a result of a complaint filed by Bob). 
• The “intimacy” portion of the couples’ course has been removed.
• The CPS instituted an official policy of religious neutrality (which has since been removed).
• Recruits are no longer invited to seemingly secular ceremonies that turn into a Catholic mass, though the CPS still hosts Catholic services including a Christmas Eve mass).

Nonetheless, in many respects the Calgary Police Service remains a “Christian-default” workplace. Bob has faced retaliation in ways subtle and overt for his attempts to make the CPS a more inclusive, welcoming, and secular institution. Therefore, in September 2021, Bob submitted an official complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

The AHRC has reviewed Bob’s complaint, and has accepted it as valid (most files are rejected at this stage). It will therefore proceed to a conciliation hearing (yet to be scheduled). 

CFIC will be writing a letter of support for Bob’s case, outlining the legal requirement for the Calgary Police Service, as an agent of the state, to respect the principle of secularism: not privileging one faith over another, or belief over non-belief. 

If you know an Alberta lawyer with human rights experience, please let me know at rosenblood@centreforinquiry.ca.

We will keep you apprised of Bob’s case at the AHRC in future editions of Critical Links.