NEWS & EVENTS

November 7 - Join caver, biological anthropologist, and Homo naledi team member, Marina Elliott, as she takes us along her incredible journey into the cradle of humankind in South Africa.

November 21 - Lauren Bialystok, of OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) discusses what can be done to support evidence-based sex education.

December 3 - Bad Science Watch's Ryan Armstrong explains how consumer health products and services are regulated in Canada, and what the public can do.

December 10 -
In recognition of International Human Rights Day, CFIC presents our second annual discussion, with, by, and about blasphemers.

December 20 - CFIC’s (Virtual) Winter Solstice Magic Show features live interactive magic with James Alan.

The CFIC virtual conference will be held in the spring of 2021. We welcome volunteers! For more information, please email Conference Chair, Seanna Watson.
Missed an Event? Check Online!
CFIC has been adding recordings of our events staged during the past several months to our national YouTube channel.

The most popular ones are: 
 
There are more. Use this link to check them out, or better yet, subscribe to be informed when new videos are added.
CFIC is committed to asking difficult questions, which can include talks on controversial subjects. Hosting a speaker does not imply agreement with their views.
A Message From Our President
CFIC needs your support. Over the past year, we have been remarkably busy. We brought you information about the cost of religion to taxpayers in Canada. We have supported Omer, a refugee escaping persecution for blasphemy. We have brought you 12 editions of Critical Links. And we’ve moved all of our programming online to help our members stay connected and informed as the COVID-19 pandemic rearranged all of our lives.

We hope that you have found value in CFIC and that you will help us to continue to provide programs supporting critical thinking, science, and secularism. This December, we will be asking for your help with a tax-receipted charitable donation. Please think of CFIC on Giving Tuesday, and throughout the month of December as you plan for your charitable contributions.

— Gus Lyn-Piluso, CFIC President

Don’t forget! You can direct your United Way donation to CFIC. And some workplaces have charitable funds that are directed by their staff. We will send you more information in December, but if you are afraid of forgetting, please consider giving early or giving monthly.
SCIENCE
What Science Tells Us About Slowing Down Time
Sandra Dunham

Do you recall, as a child, the endlessness of summer? The eternity that took place between the last day of school in June and the first day of school in August or September? I recall those endless summer days. But this year, summer seemed to last about three days.

Myths Around the Coronavirus
Scott Douglas Jacobsen

Everyone knows the general recommendations coming from the Canadian Government, from their health authorities, and… from their grandmothers — i.e., wear a mask, wash your hands, physically distance at least six feet or more, etc. This article examines some myths which have arisen in the time of SARS-CoV-2.
SECULARISM & HUMAN RIGHTS
Refugees by corpus delicti from the Noun Project
Secular Connexion Séculière Targets Discrimination Against Atheist Refugee Claimants
Doug Thomas

Canada’s refugee policies discriminate against atheist refugee claimants. That policy includes a Less Complex Claims (LCC) category that applies to refugee claimants from certain religions, and from certain countries. Secular Connexion Séculière is focusing lobbying efforts on this discrimination.

CRITICAL THINKING
Farewell To The Amazing Randi
Edan Tasca

On October 20, one of the skeptical community’s fiercest members, James “The Amazing” Randi, died of natural causes. He was 92. Randi’s death is a tremendous loss for the LGBTQ community, for Canada, for the world’s skeptical community. And it is a tremendous loss for CFI. He invented us.

Expose the Hoax!

CFIC's annual Scammie Awards call out fake news, bad science, and illogical thought processes. Each year we ask you, our readers, to identify the scams you've encountered, and submit nominations by email to scammies@centreforinquiry.ca.

Keith's Conundrums: Sound or Unsound
Keith Douglas

All of the words from last time’s list are technical terms within various scholarly fields. They are also homophonous with similar words in ordinary language.
NOVEMBER DATES OF INTEREST
  • On November 1, Daylight Saving Time ends
  • November 7 marks 235 years since the completion of Canada’s first transcontinental railway
  • On November 12, 1981, NASA launched the space shuttle Columbia, the first time that a space vehicle was reused
  • November 14, 1666, saw the first recorded blood transfusion (between two dogs), as recorded by diarist Samuel Pepys
  • November 24 is the 161st anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species

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