News Archives for January, 2010

Various Canwest papers cover “Census questions mirror shifts in social attitudes”

January 19, 2010

Various Canwest papers cover "Census questions mirror shifts in social attitudes" about the treatment of non-believers by StatsCan Full Entry »

Montreal Gazette “Skeptics of the world unite - for real: Montreal branch promotes science”

January 09, 2010

Montreal gazette covers CFI Montreal January 2010 Full Entry »

Major Announcement:  CFI Canada to Hire Vancouver Executive Director

January 06, 2010

CFI Vancouver is a branch of CFI Canada overseeing all operations in British Columbia, fulfilling CFI's educational and outreach mandate across the province. The successful candidate will act as the Executive Director (ED) of CFI Vancouver. He/she will lead CFI Vancouver programming, event planning and hosting, promotions, newsletter publishing, social services and membership committees. In particular, the individual will engage in the planning of regular major educational events to encourage evidence-based inquiry into science, skepticism, secular humanism, pseudoscience, medicine and health, religion, philosophy, current affairs, human rights, and ethics. All CFI activities taking place in BC will fall under the candidate's jurisdiction. There will be numerous leadership opportunities through support staff and volunteer recruitment, training, supervision and delegation. Full Entry »

ATHEISTS AND AGNOSTICS, STAND UP AND BE COUNTED IN THE 2011 CENSUS!

January 04, 2010

Every 10 years, Statistics Canada includes a section on the Census that asks about religious belief. Currently, the wording of this question is biased towards artificially inflating the number or religious Canadians. It prompts “non-practising” members to write down the religion of their parents or community, even if they themselves no longer believe. Basically, it measures religion as something that is “affiliation-based” rather than “belief-based”. The “no religion” check-box is too vague. In addition to atheists and agnostics, it also includes people who believe in God but who reject organized religion. Help us contact the appropriate people to change this in time for the 2011 Census to ensure the government has the best data for proper decision making. Full Entry »