The Centre for Inquiry Canada (CFIC) is a not-for-profit educational organization with headquarters in
Ottawa, Ontario
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Canada. The Canadian organization was founded as a member and volunteer driven organization in 2007. It is the Canadian affiliate of
CFI Transnational. Their primary mission is to provide education and training to the public in the application of skeptical, secular, rational and humanistic inquiry through conferences, symposia, lectures, published works and the maintenance of a library.
History
CFI Canada was originally established as a branch of CFI Transnational in
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Canada, in 2006.
Initially supported in part by CFI Transnational, CFIC is an independent Canadian national organization with branches in several provinces.
Justin Trottier
Justin Trottier (born 4 December 1982) is a political activist, former political candidate and founder of Canada's largest social-political movements for secularism and men's issues. He was one of several founding members of several secular org ...
served as the first National Executive Director from 2007 to 2011, followed by Michael Payton until June 2013, and by Eric Adriaans from March 2014 to July 2016.
Structure
CFI Canada is governed by a Board of Directors to whom the National Executive Director reports. The ancillary Council of CFI Canada is a quasi-governance body responsible for the election of the Board and for approval of changes to CFIC by-laws. Branch directors (leaders) report to the National Executive Director.
Branches
CFI Canada has branches in
Halifax,
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
,
Ottawa,
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...
,
Calgary, Regina, Kelowna, Victoria and
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
.
Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism (CASS)
The Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism (CASS) was a science-focused working group of CFI Canada, acting as a national
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
advisory group that encouraged
evidence-based
Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the idea that occupational practices ought to be based on scientific evidence. While seemingly obviously desirable, the proposal has been controversial, with some arguing that results may not specialize to indiv ...
inquiry into scientific,
medical
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
,
technological
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
and
paranormal
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...
claims using
scientific scepticism. CASS conducts research, provided educational programs in schools, and published papers on a variety of scientific topics in a proactive approach to public outreach, and also acted reactively to non-evidence based scientific, medical, and paranormal claims in public
discourse.
CASS was formed in 2010 to act as point of contact for science outreach for the organization. The committee was a volunteer driven panel of experts and enthusiasts. CASS was run by two co-chairs. Past co-chair members included Iain Martel, a
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
contract lecturer with a background in the
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
of physics, Michael Kruse, a contributor to Skeptic North with a background in health. CASS activities were incorporated into the work of the Board of Directors in 2014.
Strategic Priorities
Drawing on the success of CASS, in 2014 CFIC developed the Committee For the Advancement of Human Rights (CAHR) and the Committee for the Advancement of Education. The three priority areas, human rights, education and science are championed at CFIC's Board of Directors by the committee Chairs. In 2019, CFIC states that its strategic priorities include secularism, scientific skepticism, critical thinking and building community.
Campaigns and outreach activities
CFI Canada branches host a public education series across the country featuring leading academics, scientists, authors, performers and artists. National campaigns on relevant themes are also a key focus for the organization's activities.
Secular library
CFIC houses a library of approximately 7000 secular books available for loan to members for research and study purposes. Large portions of the library were in storage from 2011 to 2014 with a repatriation of the full collection occurring in June 2014. The CFIC library was relocated to the Ottawa Branch in 2017.
Extraordinary Claims Campaign
The Extraordinary Claims Campaign was a series of planned advertisements developed in 2010 based on the
Carl Sagan quote "
extraordinary claims
The Sagan standard is a neologism abbreviating the aphorism that "''extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence''" (ECREE). It is named after science communicator
Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, rais ...
require extraordinary evidence".
It was designed to be a follow-up to the Freethought Association of Canada's
Atheist Bus Campaign
The Atheist Bus Campaign was an advertising campaign in 2008 and 2009 that aimed to place "peaceful and upbeat" messages about atheism on transport media in Britain, in response to evangelical Christian advertising.
It was created by comedy w ...
in 2009. The ads were to feature a list of "extraordinary claims" on topics of pseudoscience, religion, and alternative medicine, including
Allah,
Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
,
Bigfoot,
chiropractic
Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudosci ...
, and many more. The campaign also focuses on public education, running a series of events and publishing articles throughout the campaign that explored each extraordinary claim in more detail. The campaign received coverage in
''The National Post'' and
''The Toronto Star''. However, as of 2017, these ads never went up.
10:23
CASS takes part in the annual
10:23 campaign, an international campaign aimed at raising awareness about what
homeopathy is with the slogan: "There's nothing in it." In cities around the world, individuals get together to take an 'overdose' of homeopathic pills to highlight their dilution and ineffectual nature. In 2011, members of CASS in Vancouver were featured taking their overdose on a
CBC Marketplace
''CBC Marketplace'' is a Canadian investigative consumer program which has been broadcast on CBC Television since 1972. The program investigates consumer reports on issues such as product testing, health and safety, fraudulent business practi ...
episode dedicated to homeopathy called: "Cure or Con?"
In March 2011, CASS sent an official complaint to Ontario Health Minister Deb Mathews (
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
The Ministry of Health is the Government of Ontario ministry responsible for administering the health care system in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The ministry is responsible to the Ontario Legislature through the minister of health, presentl ...
), to express concern over a move in the province of
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
to create a college of homeopaths as a regulated health profession. Key demands have been to ensure that the term "doctor" remain and be enforced as a protected term and to ensure public health safety with particular reference to the promotion of homeopathic vaccines.
Public education and events
During the Canadian federal election of 2011, CASS sent questionnaires asking candidates their position on public health as it relates to homeopaths and alternative medicine practitioners, scientific integrity and political influence, climate change, and critical thinking education. Responses received were posted publicly.
In the summer of 2011, CASS sent a team of four members to speak on a variety of skeptical science topics at
Polaris 25 in Toronto. The panel was the first of its kind at a Canadian science fiction conference and was modelled after Skeptrack at
DragonCon
Dragon Con (previously Dragon*Con and sometimes DragonCon) is a North American multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. , the convention draws attendance of over 80,000, f ...
in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
.
Good Without God Billboard Campaign
CFIC launched a Good without God Billboard campaign in 2013 with billboards appearing in Vancouver and Calgary. CFIC also supported a bus ad in Sudbury, Ontario. The campaign featured secular "verses" promoting secular ethics.
Kids For Inquiry
Kids for Inquiry was launched by the Okanagan Branch of CFIC as a program to bring the values of critical thinking and science education to families with young children.
Secular Seminar Series
In 2014, CFIC launched its Secular Seminar series as an educational tool targeted to increase awareness and knowledge of targeted topic of Canadian secularism. The first two seminars focused on Prayers in Public Spaces and Canada's Blasphemous Libel law (Criminal Code Section 296). Each seminar is a collaborative participation session where members learn while contributing new content.
Criminal Code Section 296: Canada's Blasphemous Libel
Following the brutal murders at ''Charlie Hebdo'' in France and the imprisonment and torture of
Raif Badawi
Raif bin Muhammad Badawi ( ar, رائف بن محمد بدوي, also transcribed Raef bin Mohammed Badawi; born 13 January 1984) is a Saudi writer, dissident and activist, as well as the creator of the website ''Free Saudi Liberals''.
Badawi wa ...
in Saudi Arabia CFIC launched initiatives to educate Canadians regarding Canada's blasphemous libel law, Criminal Code Section 296. Between 2014 and 2017, CFIC called-upon the Canadian government to repeal Criminal Code Section 296 and was a leading organizer of the International Coalition Against Blasphemy Laws (ICABL), a group of organizations from around the world working together to educate and oppose blasphemy laws around the world. The International Humanist and Ethical Union collaborated with ICABL with the End Blasphemy Laws website. Section 296 was repealed in 2018 as part of a larger set of reforms to Canada's criminal code.
Bangladeshi writers
During a period of turbulence beginning in 2013, there had been a
series of killings of writers who were critical of religion in Bangladesh, including the murder of
Avijit Roy
Avijit Roy ( bn, অভিজিৎ রায়; 12 September 1972 – 26 February 2015) was a Bangladeshi-American engineer, online activist, writer and blogger known for creating and administrating the '' Mukto-Mona'', an Internet community ...
. In 2015, CFI Canada called on the Canadian government to intervene in the case of Bangladeshi writer Tareq Rahim, whose wife lived in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
who was attacked and wounded. Later in that same year, CFI Canada assisted Bangladeshi writer Raihan Abir and his wife to find sanctuary and claim asylum in Canada. Abir had not been attacked, but had feared he was next.
Affiliate organizations
*
Center for Inquiry
*
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI)
*
10:23 Campaign
References
External links
CFI Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Centre For Inquiry Canada
Skeptic organizations in Canada
Freethought organizations
Humanist associations
Atheist organizations
Secularist organizations
Secularism in Canada
Secular humanism
Atheism in Canada