Tag Archives: events

Footprints of Henry Beissel: A Conversation With A humanist Poet

March 25, 2021 humanistfreedoms

ZOOM EVENT! MARCH 27, 2021

In a celebration of the humanities, Humanist Ottawa hosts this afternoon of conversation with Henry Beissel, poet, playwright, fiction writer, translator, editor and winner of the 2020 Ottawa Book Award in English Fiction for his book of poetry, “Footprints of Dark Energy“.

In awarding this prize, the jury said, ” Part idyll, part love song and mostly about man in nature, Henry Beissel’s Footprints of Dark Energy approaches the sublime in its epic treatment of its subjects. The meditative undertones of the shorter poems coalesce into the epigrammatic wit of the long title poem, and all are bolstered by the narration’s majestic sweep.”

The title poem of this collection takes us on an epic journey across past and present historical events and through spaces defined by the natural sciences, as it explores the challenges of being human in these troubled times. It is accompanied by a gathering of shorter poems that confront the dark forces in our world as they struggle for the light at the end of the tunnel. In stark imagery, these poems turn words into music to celebrate the anguish and the glory of being alive.

Henry Beissel is author/editor of 44 published books. Among his 22 collections of poetry are his epic “Seasons of Blood” and the lyrical “Stones to Harvest” as well as his celebration of Canada in “Cantos North” and the 364 haiku in “What if Zen Gardens …“. He lives in Ottawa with his wife Arlette Francière, the artist and literary translator.

Feel free to forward this invitation to any of your friends.

When: Saturday, March 27, 2021

Time: 1:30 pm Eastern Time

Medium: Zoom – Please register in advance for this free event at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrcuCtpz8vHdawRAzYyEy2q1Of6QlmmwJM

References and Resources

Featured Image Courtesy of: Humanist Ottawa

The views, opinions and analyses expressed in the articles on Humanist Freedoms are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the publishers.

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Conference: Humanism and Medicine

March 17, 2021 humanistfreedoms

In our search for interesting, challenging and critical perspectives on contemporary humanism, we occasionally find articles published in other venues that we think humanistfreedoms.com readers may enjoy. The following article was published by The Arnold P. Gold Foundation.

The Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) 2021 will take place from Saturday, April 17-Tuesday April 20, bringing 4 full days of CCME content! Each day will bring you one of our 4 plenary sessions, 4 major sessions, live workshops, asynchronous oral sessions, and constant access to our poster sessions.

The Conference program will feature interactive workshops, pre-recorded oral sessions followed by live Q&As and poster presentations that are grouped into themes. Each theme covers current and emerging issues in medical education, varying from diversity and equity, Covid-19, health & wellness, continuing professional development to faculty development, teaching & learning, curriculum, professionalism, postgraduate affairs and more. With CCME 2021 organized around many different tracks of educational content, attendees will find ample opportunities for learning, networking and collaboration.

Given the current global situation, CCME has chosen to move from an in-person conference to a virtual one. Join the conference from anywhere in the world, from the comfort of your home for an inspirational program and impactful networking opportunities. This year, the conference theme is Making Waves: Exploring the Waters of Medical Education. Register Here

Together with the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), the Gold Foundation for Humanistic Healthcare, Canada is pleased to announce the recipient of the 2021 AFMC-Gold Humanism Award and Lecture: Dr. Marie-Ève Goyer, a leader in caring for people with addiction and an exemplar of humanism in healthcare.

Dr. Goyer is a family physician at the new Notre-Dame Hospital in the Addiction and Urban Medicine Department. She is Assistant Medical Chief of Specific Services in Homelessness, Addiction and Mental Health at CIUSSS Centre-Sud-de-l’île-de-Montréal and Scientific Director of the Clinical and Organizational Support Team in Addiction and Homelessness at the Institut universitaire sur les dépendances.

“Dr. Goyer has been an exceptional leader of humanism during the opioid crisis, during an era of surprising difficulty, caring for her patients with both deep empathy and innovative, practical solutions. As a medical educator, she multiples her success by helping illuminate humanistic values for her students,” said Dr. Richard I. Levin, President and CEO of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation. “We are delighted to join with AFMC to honor her contributions.”

Both Dr. Goyer and Dr. Jillian Horton, the 2020 AFMC-Gold Award recipient, will be honored in April at the Canadian Conference on Medical Education award ceremony, and both will be presenting at sessions. (The 2020 CCME conference was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Please see the 2020 announcement of Dr. Horton’s award.)

The AFMC Gold Humanism Award and Lecture was created in 2018 by both organizations to emphasize, reinforce and enhance the importance of humanistic qualities among medical school students and faculty. The nominations are open to physicians, nurses and other members of the health care team who practice in Canada or practitioners and researchers in health professions education.

“We are thrilled to honour Dr. Marie-Ève Goyer as this year’s AFMC-Gold Humanism Award winner,” said Dr. Geneviève Moineau, President and CEO of the AFMC. “Dr. Goyer inspires compassion and creates a humanistic learning environment, which motivates students and residents to get involved with underserved populations.”

Dr. Goyer participated in the implementation of the supervised injection services and the PROFAN naloxone program in Montreal and is responsible for the implementation of the first service for the treatment of opioid dependence via injectable medication. She is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Montreal as well as professor for the graduate microprogram in clinical addictology at the University of Sherbrooke. She is a medical advisor to the director of the Ministry of Health for the province of Quebec’s addiction and homelessness services.

She holds a Master’s degree in Community Health from the University of Montreal and the CFPC’s Certificate in Additional Competence in Addiction Medicine.

In his nomination of Dr. Goyer, Dr. Patrick Cossette, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, wrote: “As evidenced by her patients, Dr. Goyer inspires benevolence and compassion towards fragile populations. Fostering cooperation among many professionals, she knows how to create a humanistic learning environment and motivate current and future physicians to get involved with underserved communities. Community care, adapted access to opioid addiction treatment, and the experience of users facing low-threshold services are examples of her daily work, reflecting a humanistic practice environment.”

Learn more about the AFMC-Gold Award and Lecture, the Gold Foundation, and AFMC.

References and Resources

The views, opinions and analyses expressed in the articles on Humanist Freedoms are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the publishers.

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Events: Separation of Church and State In Education

February 10, 2021 humanistfreedoms

In our January 2021 Call for Submissions, we asked for articles in consideration of “Contemporary Humanism’s Biggest Priorities and Challenges for 2021“. In Canada, two leading humanist organizations, Humanist Canada and Ontario Humanist Society appear to have left the gates with clear demonstrations that the separation of church and state in the publicly-funded education system is among their top priorities. Each has upcoming events focused on this ongoing issue.

HumanistFreedoms.ca was founded in support of one Ontario citizen’s attempts to protect his human rights while trying to oppose Ontario’s existing system of public funding of Catholic school systems. Read more about Dr. Richard Thain’s legal battle in our featured article.

A One School System In Ontario

With Alvin Tedjo and Leonard Baak

February 21, 2021 3:00 pm EST Register Today

The Ontario government currently funds four overlapping school systems: English public, English Catholic, French public, and French Catholic. In Quebec, Manitoba, Newfoundland, and Labrador, religiously segregated school systems have been eliminated. Ontario is now the only province that funds the religious schools of the Catholic faith exclusively.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers’ Federation have urged the Ontario government to end funding of the province’s Catholic schools and move toward one secular school system for each official language.

Join us for a conversation about the one school system initiative:

How did the Ontario school system come to be the way it is? What are the social, financial, environmental, and educational consequences of the current organization of our school system? How would the transition to a single school system be implemented? How would it impact teachers and parents? What are the financial benefits of merging the public and catholic school boards across Ontario? What is the current political situation with respect to moving towards a single secular school system for each official language?

Alvin Tedjo was a leadership candidate in the 2020 Ontario Liberal Party election to replace Kathleen Wynne. He was the first-ever Liberal candidate to propose merging the public and catholic school boards across Ontario in order to improve the quality of education for all students, regardless of their religion. Alvin’s proposal was supported by two public polls during the leadership election that saw a majority of Ontarians agree with him. He also proposed introducing a basic income and expanding child care.

Alvin has previously served as Vice President of the Ontario Coalition for Better Childcare. He is the founder of Canadians for Paternity Leave, a coalition that successfully pressured the federal government to increase paternity leave for Canadians. Alan was Director of Government Relations at Sheridan College and Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. He currently works as a senior manager at Ryerson University.

Alvin is the father of three young children. He lives in Mississauga with his wife Rebecca, a registered nurse.

Leonard Baak is President of One School System.

Leonard was born and raised in Nova Scotia. In 1986, he moved to Ontario to attend university and has worked as a software developer in Ottawa since 1991.

Appalled at what he saw as “the discrimination and waste in our school system”, Leonard and two other equally dissatisfied parents, incorporated OneSchoolSystem.org in 2004 to lobby for change.

Leonard is a married father of two university-aged kids.

Separation of Religion and State

Support of a Single Public School System

The mission of the Ontario Humanist Society (OHS) is to practise and to foster humanism at the Provincial level by providing focus, service and a sense of ethical identity to humanists and humanist associations across Ontario in a manner consistent with humanist principles, practice and core values as stated in the Humanist Manifestos, Amsterdam Declaration and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ontario Humanist Society presents the first virtual speaker program in their showcase of 2021 events.

Via: ZOOM Meeting

Date: Tuesday February 23, 2021

Time: 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm

The Ontario provincial government is currently the only province funding religious schools of the Catholic faith exclusively. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers’ Federation have urged the government to move toward one secular school system for each official language. This discussion will include a short history, major issues, current state, and how we can better serve our children and society as a whole.

Our moderator and speaker, Zain Ghadially, is a passionate Ontario public school educator who focuses a lot of his own time on discussion, debate, and ethics.

Join in on the conversation…

References and Resources

The views, opinions and analyses expressed in the articles on Humanist Freedoms are those of the contributor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the publishers.

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Auckland Festival of Photography: Marco Bischof

May 24, 2020 humanistfreedoms

Unseen – Werner Bischof

Queens Wharf Fence • 23 May – 21 June

Hours 8pm 27 May | 1 June Freeview CH 200
Where outdoor exhibition 24 hrs/7 days – 89 Quay St, City
09 307 7055
http://www.wernerbischof.com
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Artists Werner Bischof
ThemeExhibitions

Auckland Festival of Photography is excited to present an exclusive outdoor waterfront exhibition of work by Werner Bischof, Switzerland.

Image courtesy http://www.wernerbischof.com

Werner started his career in his studio in Zurich, Switzerland, where he perfected his artistic photography in “painting with light and shadow”. In 1945 he creates maybe the most significant photographic documentation of Europe in the aftermath of WWII. 1949 he joins Magnum Photos and travels two years in Asia: India, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Indochina he continues his humanistic photography, combining form and content.

His untimely death in a car accident in Peru at age 38 was the catalyst to maintain his photography in an archive for future generations.

USA is a series of work that brings early 1950s America vividly to life, yet Bischof’s tragic death at 38 meant the photographs were never printed during his lifetime. This is the first time they are being shown to the public in New Zealand.

Bischof was the first non-founding member to be welcomed into the then-fledgling Magnum collective, in 1949 joining Robert Capa, David Seymour, Henri Cartier-Bresson and George Rodger. He had already become recognised for his pioneering use of colour photography, and was one of the first documentary photographers to take the format seriously. At the time of joining Magnum, most of Bischof’s contemporaries still predominantly worked in monochrome, a trend that continued well into the 1960s.

The photographs serve as a fleeting snapshot of a unique point in history: Bischof arrived in post-war United States from Switzerland in 1953, and stayed there for just one year, chronicling a booming and optimistic America through the eyes of an outsider. The 25 photographs that make up the series comprise few suggestions of interaction, they are instead stolen moments through shop windows and cars that blur past, evoking anonymity, and a contemplative look at everyday life in America during a period of immense change. (some text courtesy of the British Journal of Photography).

Thanks to Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council, Panuku Development, Lion Foundation and Werner Bischof Estate.

Talking Culture – Artist Talk 12pm (noon)-1pm Wed 27 May
10am-11am Sat 30 May
Marco will give a talk about his father, Werner Bischof’s photography ‘USA’ series. Read more and Zoom in to join the talk…

Further Information

Marco Bischof on curating his father’s photography for a written and 16-minute audio article by Radio New Zealand
www.wernerbischof.com/main.html

Feature Image Courtesy:ndmagazine.net

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Virtual Events And Worthy Webinars

May 19, 2020 humanistfreedoms Leave a comment

Humanist Association of Ottawa Virtual Pub Nite

The Humanist Association of Ottawa (HAO) has been operating since 1968. Our vision is a world where reason and compassion guide public policy and social values to enable the fulfillment of human potential. Our mission is to promote the cause of humanism, foster the humanist community in Ottawa, and advocate for a secular public domain.

Time: Jun 1, 2020 07:00 PM in America/Toronto

Click here to register.

Clear, Empathic Communication in a Pandemic & Always (A Two-Part Series)

A Webinar with the Gold Foundation & Alda Center Thanks for joining us for this two-part informational webinar series, made possible by a grant from the Kavli Foundation and sponsored by the American Chemical Society. Please register below.

PART 1: WEDNESDAY, MAY 27TH, 1:00-1:20PM ET
PART 2: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3RD, 1:00-1:20PM ET

Click here to register.

https://www.aldacenter.org/aldaonline

Difficult Discussions – Why Secularists Disagree on Bill 21

This will be an online meeting using Zoom. You can join with a computer, tablet, smartphone, or by phone (audio only). Information will be provided to those who RSVP

Has there been a more contentious issue for secularists in Canada than Quebec’s Bill 21? At CFIC, we’ve seen that this issue has been divisive for our secular community. We think that it is important to have a discussion about this topic, not to change minds, but to enhance our understanding of differing perspectives.

The event will start with a presentation by Catherine Francis about the background of Quebec’s Secular Bill and the subsequent legal challenge, followed by a moderated Q+A and discussion
Whether you have a strong opinion about this bill (either for or against) or have watched the dialogue and not come to any conclusions, this webinar is for you.

This is part of a series of presentations about topics that our members disagree on. We recognize that while we all are aiming for a more just, secular society; we may have different views on how to get there. What we do know, is that as secularists, we must stick together on the big issues such as the funding of religion, elimination of blasphemy laws around the world and the use of science, rather than superstition to solve the world’s biggest issues.

About our Presenter:
Catherine Francis was called to the Ontario bar in 1987 and is a partner in the Litigation Group and Bankruptcy and Insolvency Group of Minden Gross LLP, a mid-sized Toronto law firm. Her practice is devoted largely to corporate/commercial, real estate, banking, and insolvency litigation.
In her spare time, Catherine is a member of several secular organizations and serves on the steering committee of the Humanist Association of Toronto. Catherine has frequently presented to Toronto Oasis, a community that meets regularly to create a place for freethinkers to celebrate the human experience, on legal issues of interest to the secular community.

Please join us on June 6, 2020 for a robust discussion of Bill 21.

Click Here to Register

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Event: Webinar Book Series: Unveiled by Yasmine Mohammed

May 6, 2020 humanistfreedoms

Sunday May 17, 2020 – 3 pm EST

Unveiled

With Yasmine Mohammed

Canadian human rights activist, Yasmine Mohammed, advocates for the rights of women living within Islamic majority countries, as well as those who struggle under religious fundamentalism.

Her book, Unveiled, is a memoir/polemic that recalls her experiences growing up in a fundamentalist Islamic household and her arranged marriage to a member of Al-Qaeda. In it, she sheds light on the religious trauma that so many women still today are unable to discuss.

Yasmine Mohammed is an activist, writer, college instructor and the founder of Free Hearts Free Minds, an organization that provides psychological support for freethinkers living within Muslim majority countries, where the State-sanctioned punishment for leaving Islam is death.

To learn more about Free Hearts Free Minds visit www.freeheartsfreeminds.com.

References and Resources

https://centerforinquiry.org/speakers/mohammed_yasmine/