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NEW MEMBERS' INFORMATION NIGHT
Bettianne Hedges, our Executive Director, will host an evening to welcome new members and answer questions. We will also talk about how members can become humanist officiants in Ontario. New or hoping to find new ways to engage as a member - we hope to see you there.
The Freedom of Thought Report 2023 by Humanists International, now in its 12th annual edition, examines the legal and human rights situation for humanists, atheists, and the non-religious around the world. Humanist Canada was a proud contributor to the report. The link contains access to the full document.
Discussion: Interfaith Family. Marriage and Parenting with Mutual Respect.
Discussion: Interfaith Family - Marriage and Parenting with Mutual Respect. Sunday, January 14th at 3:00 PM
Falling in love with the right person is easy, what comes next isn't always. For anyone who has ever wondered how relationships can work between the faithful and faithless, you won't want to miss this peek behind the curtain. Steve Ghikadis, a Secular Humanist, has been married to Cindy, a Christian, for almost a decade, and, like most couples, they agree on all the big things. Just not the little things...like the beginning of the universe. Their two young boys have the benefit of experiencing two completely different worldviews and are never pressured to lean in any particular direction. If you're curious to see how their family can pull it off and manage to see through their differences...
Steve will explore the topic in conversation with Jarrod Clegg, Humanist Canada Officiant and Program Committee Member.
University of Alberta Faculty of Native Studies offers a free 12-lesson course on indigenous culture and history. Indigenous Canada is a self-study online course that "explores the different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada, highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations". It covers topics such as the fur trade and other exchange relationships, land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, political conflicts and alliances, indigenous political activism, and contemporary Indigenous life and art.
We are suggesting you register directly and take the course at your own pace and in the new year we will schedule moderated group discussions with your fellow humanists. If you have already taken the course please register for the group discussion by way of the link below.
Humanist Canada will be offering group discussions with knowledgeable moderators with lived experience. We invite you to take the course and share this journey with us! Enroll Here
REGISTER FOR THE DISCUSSION GROUP (We will notify you when the discussion group meetings are scheduled): Register Here
OUR MEMBERS IN THE MEDIA
We have put aside this section of our newsletter to highlight you - please send along your publications, podcasts, or anything that airs.
Dying with Dignity has asked our members to consider the following petition asking the Minister of Justice to bring in a change to the Criminal Code that would allow for an advance request for MAID – essentially a written, witnessed request that outlines a series of triggering medical conditions, the onset and verification of which, would amount to intolerable suffering for the patient, and would be the occasion for a clinician to grant a patient’s prior expressed wish for a medically assisted death.
As we know, a petition is used to draw attention to an issue of public interest or concern and to request that the Government of Canada take some action. Once complete, the petition will be read in the House of Commons by authorizing MP Brendan Hanley. The government is required to respond to all petitions read in the House of Commons within 45 days.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the button to sign the petition.
MEMBERS' CONNECT
Are you looking for a good conversation? All of our members are welcome to join us at our weekly Members' Connect Zoom discussion group. We meet every Wednesday evening at 6:00 PM EST.
Watch this space for events soon to be announced in Stratford and the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
If you would like to begin a chapter in your region - and we can help you do just that - please reach out.
A little reading...
Enchantment by Katherine May. (also the author of the equally remarkable Wintering)
Many of us feel trapped in a grind of constant change: rolling news cycles, the chatter of social media, our families split along partisan lines. We feel fearful and tired, on edge in our bodies, not quite knowing what has us perpetually depleted. For Katherine May, this low hum of fatigue and anxiety made her wonder what she was missing. Could there be a different way to relate to the world? New York Times
We invite you to add your voice to the conversation
