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Janalee Morris
1 Plays3 seconds ago
Daniel Dacombe sits down with the boss, Executive Director of Humanist Canada, Janalee Morris.
They discuss her previous work with Rocky Mountain Atheists and the Western Canadian Reason Conference. As well as discuss the upcoming World Humanist Conference 2026, happening for the first time this August in Ottawa.
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Transcript
Introducing The Voice of Canadian Humanism
00:00:01
Speaker
Let's make humanism a household word. Every house and every person in Canada should know what humanism is, should know that it's an option and it's it's ah it's a community that they would be welcomed into.
00:00:17
Speaker
That's the goal.
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Speaker
Welcome to The Voice of Canadian Humanism, the official podcast of Humanist Canada. Join us as we delve into thought-provoking discussions, explore critical issues, and celebrate the values of reason, compassion, and secularism through the humanist lens.
00:00:44
Speaker
Welcome to the conversation.
Meet Janalee Morris: A Journey from Religion to Secularism
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Speaker
Well, hello everyone. My name is Daniel Dacombe and I'm one of the hosts of the Voice of Canadian Humanism podcast. On this podcast, we like to feature the voices that are involved in leading or important to humanism in Canada and beyond. And today I'm very pleased to be joined by our guest, Humanist Canada's own Executive Director, Janalee Morris. Janalee, welcome here. Thank you so much, Daniel.
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ah Janalee Morris is a community organizer, educator, and learning consultant who has served a long career in the Canadian post-secondary sector. Committed to community leadership, humanist values, and secular advocacy, Janalee has served 10 years on the board of Rocky Mountain Atheists, with six as president, five years as the chair of the conference committee for the Western Canadian Reason Conference, and is currently enrolled in the Humanist Chaplain Training Program through Humanist Canada.
00:01:40
Speaker
Her volunteer work also includes dedicated service on the Premier's Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities for the Government of Alberta, the Calgary Police Service Persons with Disabilities Advisory Council, and the Canadian Higher Education Universal Design for Learning Collective Leadership Team, alongside organizing for Canadian Blood Services, acting as a group of five refugee sponsor, and participating in local community cleanup initiatives. So um you you have a lot of free time on your hands, I'm guessing. I don't like to sit still.
00:02:11
Speaker
i think we have that in common, Daniel. Yeah, we do. i can i can relate, but ah all looks like very good things to be involved in. i want to ask about more of them, but one of the things that we like to do when we start these interviews is to ask our guests a bit about themselves. And usually we're most interested in what sort of cultural or religious environment that you grew up in. So would you mind introducing yourself to or the listeners? Yeah.
00:02:36
Speaker
I'd be happy to. i grew up in southern Saskatchewan. I grew up on a farm near a very, very tiny community of i currently, I think, has less than 300, population of 300. And I grew up in in a Catholic ah tradition. um And so, you know, we went to church every week. My mom was the organ player at the church. My my grandparents were very involved. um You know, the CWL, the Catholic Women's League.
00:03:07
Speaker
ah We had our turn you know to to to clean the church once a month. All all of those sort of obligations that that you had as being part of ah a small town parish. right i i you know I did all the things. I was baptized. I i did communion. I did all ah all of the confirmation. Went to catechism every week as well as church every Sunday. But I but i would say that when I was about 11 years old, I had my first sort of issue with the
Discovering Secular Community and Activism
00:03:38
Speaker
church. And that was that I really wanted to be an altar boy. And so I asked my mom, you know, can I can i be an altar boy? I mean, they they wore the best dresses and they write they you know they got to ring the little bells up on the stage. And, you know, they got to pour the wine. Like, it looks like a really important job. But my mom, of course, said, no, you can't be an altar boy because you're a girl. And this was actually really just a few years before the Catholic Church opened it up for girls to also, you know, serve at the altar. um Really out of necessity because, you know, declining population of churchgoers. but right But that was a real moment for me. And i always say that's when I became a feminist is when I found out that I wasn't allowed to be an altar boy. So, you know, fast forward ah several years to when I started attending university. i took a course in, in ancient mythology and started making the connection between the the mythology, Christian mythology and what had come before and seeing the connections that maybe those stories were actually just borrowed or stolen from other traditions that they weren't probably were not the word of God. And the the whole thing really just unraveled for me. You know, it didn't it didn't take that long and before I before I recognized that I really did not believe in in that particular mythology.
00:05:07
Speaker
um I would say, though, it didn't have as huge an impact on my life as it as it did for some people who were, you know, way more involved or or had other other kinds of connections to the to their church or their or their religious tradition. you know, my... my income did not depend on, on believing my family, although they were upset, didn' it didn't, you know, cause the kind of rift that, that, you know, broke down our relationship. There were a few intense conversations around when I, you know, when I got married, that I was not going to get married in a church, that I was not going to baptize my children.
00:05:45
Speaker
But other than that, we really have just agreed to disagree and we we really don't speak of it. And, but, you know, it was really several years later, when i had moved to Calgary and we were looking for community that we got involved in, in the secular community, found, you know, found people who sort of had similar belief systems and um we we sort of found a home within that group. And that's really when I, when I became more of a secular activist. And when I recognized the importance of safeguarding our systems,
00:06:23
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in in making sure that that separation of church and state, which is which is really foundational for our democracy, to to feature really prominently in in the work that I was doing and and to pay attention.
00:06:37
Speaker
Because I think, you know, what one of the things that's been happening for several years now, and and we're sort of seeing it, especially in the US, but, you know, including in lots of places in Canada, that... some The religious side, specifically the Christian side, have have not um quietly going been quietly going along with the changes. They have their own agenda and their own plans for bringing the prominence of religion back into um into public spaces, into political spaces, into policy spaces. And so, you know, over the last 10 years, when I have been gotten gotten more and more involved, In secular advocacy, that really has been the reason is because I can see those things creeping in and the importance of it.
00:07:26
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Especially in Alberta, I think, which is where you still are, as far as I know. um for For non-Canadian listeners, Alberta is one of the more...
00:07:38
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I'll say conservative ah provinces in our country, probably ah you can make a pretty good case for comparing it to the American Bible Belt in in some ways. ah So more on that later, because I do have some
Exploring Feminism and Gender Inequality in Religion
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more questions about that. But something that you said that stuck out to me was your initial moment of of questioning came about through an experience that ah that a lot of people wouldn't have because as males, they would be ah welcomed. They would be accepted into the into the club and into the ah activities of participating and leading a religion or religious group. They get the best dresses, like you said. And so for ah for them, some of the issues that underlie religion more conventional religious systems that are very cut and dried and have ah a lot of requirements for men versus women and strict gender roles and things. I think that they may not have caught on to some of those things at first. They may have ah been able to go for years longer being welcomed and accepted and celebrated essentially just for being male. And i think that that's probably a really important,
00:08:56
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great example of of why feminist perspectives and and listening to feminist perspectives is so important for everybody, not just for people who um happen to be female. I think that that's a really great ah you know really great example and and probably something that more women than are vocal about it experience in the church.
00:09:17
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the The patriarchy is very much embedded, promoted, by a lot of, of you know, organized really religious organizations. um And, you know, that's that's the funny thing about about privilege really is that it's meant to be invisible. And unless it affects you, um you don't you don't notice. you You don't notice that you're not subject to these kinds of discriminatory actions unless you really do a lot of work.
00:09:48
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to notice that other people are not being treated in in the same way that you are. And the secular humanist community, like on paper, we're all about equal rights. In practice, I think that there's still parts of our systems that because they developed in Western and kind of Eurocentric countries, they developed in patriarchal cultures. We probably still have some of those things baked in where there's just extra hoops to jump through uh,
00:10:17
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things within our systems that still need to be unpacked or ah changed or made more equitable. um you know Certainly we're we're not perfect, but I expect that people like me still get more opportunities ah just through the the remnants of patriarchal culture that that stick around in the systems despite our best efforts. So good reminder for all of us to keep looking out for those things and keep checking ourselves. I'm speaking mostly to people like me here.
00:10:48
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but But we're all subject to the cultures within which we exist. And those those things we take as as the norm um have been very much influenced by all of that history um of the patriarchy. And so myself, I still find myself, you know, noticing sometimes that my own views and opinions have been, excuse me, have been formed by that worldview.
00:11:13
Speaker
We can't help it. That's how culture works. Yeah, yeah, well said. And it's something that we have to continually unpack and um and also just be aware of our own defensiveness about it. That's something that I tend to get really tripped up by is is feeling feeling defensive about, well, i didn't I didn't ask for all these privileges.
00:11:32
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Yeah, I'm still benefiting from them. so The hardest thing about being a critical thinker yeah is turning that lens on yourself and on your own beliefs. Yeah, that's very uncomfortable. I'd i'd much rather avoid doing that. Yes, you are.
00:11:46
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But we got to do it. So when you went off to university and you took some of those ah courses, ah again, I think probably ah really ah like an experience that's really going to resonate with a lot of people. You grow up hearing these stories and being told, well, yeah, there's other religions out there, but they're just myths like our our stuff is true. And then you, ah you know, you you go into a comparative religion course for the first time and you look at everything side by side and you go, oh, geez, this this is really like This is really similar stuff here.
00:12:17
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I think that probably is a very you know very common experience too, and and one that launches a lot of secular advocacy or secular lives.
From Biochemistry to Anthropology: Shaping Social Justice Views
00:12:25
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um When you finished university, what um like what did you finish it with? We've had a lot of different people with different academic backgrounds. What's what's your background that you ah ended up completing?
00:12:38
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So when i first started at at university, I was a biochemistry major and I took two years in in biochemistry and and I really enjoyed it. But in my second year, I found myself taking a class.
00:12:52
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where in in the lab, we had to we were we were measuring blood sugar in rats. And you know as part of that, we had to chop off the heads of the rats and you know measure all the... And you know I'm a farm girl, so I wasn't squeamish. It wasn't the issue of of of ah working with the animals in the lab, but I really recognized in myself that...
00:13:13
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I would was not a lab person. like This was not the life that I wanted to have. And so I i re-evaluated um and accidentally took a course in anthropology, cultural anthropology. And when I say accidentally, it's because it was the only class left that would fit into my schedule.
00:13:30
Speaker
And so and I loved it. i fell in love with with the whole discipline and ended up going on to do my master's in medical anthropology, which is a subset of cultural anthropology and really looks at the the cultural ideas surrounding health and wellness and illness and how we construct those things culturally.
00:13:54
Speaker
And yet we really think of them as, you know, the hard science or, or like easily defined, but, you know, really my, my focus for most of my academic career was in disability studies and looking at how we define disability and how much of that is culturally constrained and how it changes over time. And how then that influences our policies around people with disabilities and and how they're treated in in institutions. And, you know, I worked for for many, many years in post-secondary working with students with disabilities and then more broadly with with sort of the vulnerable students and making sure that they had access.
00:14:38
Speaker
I think that's such an interesting ah field and I'm sure others are going to notice this thread of ah kind of constant advocacy that you've got in your story and in your in your life. and it's you know It's easy to be an activist in one area. It's a little more challenging to have like like a a a practice of advocacy across many areas, and that seems to be something that you're that you're doing quite successfully.
00:15:05
Speaker
um But as as an adult with an invisible disability, I can say that it's um it's definitely been very interesting to see the conversations change in Canada and and and across the world as people people are becoming more aware of what ah disabilities exist and and and how things can be made more equitable, not just ah not just equal or not just accommodations. So I think that's a really interesting field. And it sounds like you've you spent a lot of time there getting to know students, getting to know the people who are decision makers. um
00:15:42
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One of the things that I was curious about is how that education background and those experience um led to your involvement in secular activism or or changed your involvement in secular activism. You mentioned that you you found the Rocky Mountain Atheist Group, I think, as a way of finding community. ah But how did the education, training and experience that you had ah in in this very specific area of medical anthropology turn into your secular activism?
Advocacy for Disability and Human Rights
00:16:13
Speaker
I think I've always had a very um highly developed sense of social justice and an an inclination to thinking about human rights. when i'll I'll take you way back to when I was a teenager and I worked at a summer camp in in Saskatchewan called Camp Easterseal. This is the Easterseal Society or March of Dimes Society, and depending on where you are in Canada. And that organization itself is a charitable organization and there are lots of issues with the way that they approach, ah the way that they feature disability socially, but for whatever reason, that particular microcosm of Camp Easterseal in Saskatchewan just had an entirely inclusive
00:16:57
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um philosophy. I think of of a woman, and this camp was for kids and adults. So every there was a different group of campers that came.
00:17:10
Speaker
There was one camper, you know, in in particular that stood out to me. um Her name was Carmen and and she had had encephalitis when she was younger and that had had um left her unable to really um bend her body or or use her muscles. She was nonverbal, although she did officially have two signs and it was one finger for yes and two fingers for no. Although we all knew that she when she held up her middle finger, we knew that that was her third way of communicating to us. um But she loved horses.
00:17:42
Speaker
She loved horses when she was young. and We knew this about her and this was a topic of conversation that we could bring up with her. And we had horse riding as one of the activities. But of course, she couldn't bend. So she her she didn't use a wheelchair. She used a stretcher to get around.
00:17:56
Speaker
um But she wanted to go horse riding. And so we decided that we would just take her horse riding. So we made a saddle that would work for her. And, you know, slowly walked around camp with her on the back of a horse. And I've never seen a smile so big. And it really reinforced in me this um this idea of, there's there's this idea of the social model of of disability, which says that ah a disability is not inherent within the body or the mind of the person experiencing it. A disability exists in the environment. So the disability occurs when you cannot engage or participate in an activity or employment or education. And so it's our responsibility to create an environment where people can participate.
00:18:46
Speaker
um And so that's not on her, that was on us. And so that whole experience, even though I didn't have words for it, or really have a clear understanding at the time of what we were creating, um that's what we were doing. We were saying, actually,
00:19:00
Speaker
There's no reason that she can't go horseback horseback riding. it's It's on us to make that happen. um And if if I might share another really pivotal story from from that same sort of time period.
00:19:13
Speaker
I was in working with ah with a group of campers who were what we would call really high needs, um level four care. So these these this group, and these were children, they ah were nonverbal. Most of them were unable to swallow or eat. So they had feeding tubes. They were, you know, really, um really dependent on care. but but lovely children and loved life and, you know, responded to conversation and music and, you know, interaction with each other, even though they weren't able to verbalize that.
00:19:49
Speaker
There was one camper, though, who was about 10 years old, and he'd been in a really, really severe car accident. And, you know, he was with us for a week. And during that whole week, I really struggled to see that he was engaged in any way that he was able to tell where he was or that he you know had any interaction with the staff or the other campers. And you know i really i i spent a lot of time thinking about how how um what his life must be like, you know what if whether he was having any quality of life and and enjoyment and and what this meant.
00:20:26
Speaker
On the day before camp ended, um we had a knock on the cabin door and opened the door and here was a young man. um and this was in this was in the nineteen ninety s so this was a little unexpected. you know he was He was covered in tattoos and he had piercings all over and you know dressed in you know some leather. And it was a little bit, we were a bit taken aback. It's not what we would have expected to to you know as a visitor to the camp And, you know, we asked how, what can what can we help you with? And he said, well, I'm just, I'm here to see my brother.
00:20:57
Speaker
I know we're not supposed to pick him up till tomorrow, but I missed him so much that I just needed to come and see him. And it was that young man, that camper was his brother. And it just became so clear to me that that life is so valuable that, that all human life is so valuable that this little boy um and what a contrast with him and his brother, you know, that that they there was just so much love and affection there. He just couldn't he could not wait another day to see his brother. um It was a beautiful, beautiful thing. And it really, I think, cemented in me
00:21:33
Speaker
the value of, of human life, um, and the real, the importance of, of human rights, uh, in, in, in that everyone, everyone should have the opportunity to live a life of value and dignity and respect. Yeah.
00:21:47
Speaker
yeah So first of all, thanks for sharing those, uh, those stories. I, um, When I was fresh out of college, I used to work with adults with disabilities. And so I can kind of, you know, relate to some of the, some of the experiences you're talking about. But what stuck out to me was when you mentioned that, you know, the, the, the disability doesn't, I think it doesn't live in the person's mind or body lives in the society. It's lives in the the context.
Challenging Exclusion in Societal Structures
00:22:12
Speaker
And if the context is is, hostile towards people with disabilities or people who, ah you know, have, have,
00:22:21
Speaker
more challenges than others and in one way or another, than ah then then that's what that system is for. It's like that saying goes, the the purpose of a system is what it does. Sure. you know yeah never Never mind how it was designed. That's what it does.
00:22:32
Speaker
So looking at a ah culture or a cultural system or a political system that is either broadly religious in nature or has historically been broadly religious in nature, and especially according to one variety of religion or one specific ah brand, then We look at people who might not fit into that and say, okay, so this this isn't a problem with them. It's a problem with the system. But the system is now becoming hostile to people who are non-religious or people who are belonging to a religious group that isn't part of the ah socioeconomic dominant group.
00:23:10
Speaker
So I can see how that would kind of ah be ah be a very natural transition for you to see that kind of systemic inequality in a completely different area and then want to do something about it.
00:23:23
Speaker
That's right. Yeah. Who was the system built for? Who was the system built by? you know, though there they weren't evil people. They weren't saying, I'm going to build a system where all women are oppressed. They they just built the system for for what their what was on their radar at the time. and and And those things are, um they're they're built in and so they require a lot of effort to expose so that we are even just aware of them and and then to try to implement change.
00:23:54
Speaker
And and that religious um that that religious influence is pervasive and you know the things we've already talked about, like for women, the the patriarchal nature of most religious organizations was just duplicated in our political systems and our in our policies. um even when you're talking about disability where the prevailing idea about disability within religion is one of charity is and and a lot of our policies around people with disabilities were built around a charitable idea that they were unable to take care of themselves. um Would, you know, why would we do education? Why would we we make those things accessible for people with disabilities? Because they're meant to be objects of charity, which is a way that we buy our tickets into heaven, right? yeah By supporting those people, right? And and so it takes a you have to have a viewpoint
00:24:50
Speaker
um a critical viewpoint in order to try to deconstruct some of those things and then say, actually, we don't have to have a system like that. We can we can build it we can build a world, we can build an environment where the maximal amount of people the maximum diversity can be um and be included in an equitable way within that system. And I and i think that, you know, if you look at um the whole neurodiversity movement, we're really seeing that
00:25:22
Speaker
We're really seeing that embraced by people advocating for themselves and by a system that's starting to recognize that not everyone has to act or respond in the exact same way, that we actually need to build a system that is more diverse than that.
00:25:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's ah that's a community to which I belong and so do members of my family. And it's ah it's been gratifying to see how ah people are being more open about it. And there's other you know people are now using terms like neuro-spicy and other things to kind of put a different spin on to put a different spin on things that isn't ah maybe as pathogenic in its description. And think I don't think I've ever used the word to describe myself, but I i do think it's it's nice to see some of those changes happening. So when you started your your work with Rocky Mountain atheists, what are some examples of the activism that they were involved in and and how has that played out over the last few years?
Transition to Executive Director and Advocacy Efforts
00:26:23
Speaker
Rocky Mount Atheists has largely been a community and social group. So the activism didn't really, it didn't it didn't start that way. It really was an opportunity for people to come together. There was a really a heavy emphasis emphasis on education.
00:26:39
Speaker
And so we we started the Western Canadian Reason or We Can Reason conference as a way to kind of bring that, bring a focus to the to the education and critical thinking piece. So once a year, we bring together five or six or seven speakers from around Canada and and the US. s And we've actually had people from as far as Australia, as well as about 100 participants come together in a room. And we, we talk about the issues of the day. And what is really beautiful about that is that is the conversations that happen in between. And that is where the advocacy, i think, really comes out of.
00:27:19
Speaker
um So a few examples we have been involved in. um So our local police service here in Calgary has ah has very Christian roots.
00:27:30
Speaker
And very heavily influence influenced by by most especially the Catholic Church, but other Christian groups as well. And in fact, at their headquarters, they had a chapel built.
00:27:43
Speaker
They imported pews from a church in Ireland. This is all on the on the taxpayers dollar and had all, you know, every all the religious symbols. It was a church within their the Calgary Police Service headquarters. So that is one of the things that we advocated for ah for them, you know, getting rid of. And so that actually has now been changed. um All of the religious iconography has been removed and it is more of multi faith or meditation space now. um Although, you know, you can take the cross off the wall, but that doesn't mean that the that that influence isn't still there within that organization. And so we have continued to be involved in in calling for some action with our Calgary Police Service to to stop some of the practices, some of the associations with like the Salvation Army, for example, which, you know, which is a very...
00:28:39
Speaker
there are a lot of strings attached. If you are a person who goes, an house person who goes to the salvation army, you are, there's some requirements there to, to, to buy into the the dogma. Um, and so we've called for them to, to,
00:28:53
Speaker
D disassociate with those groups. There also was a big call for the Calgary police service to do some reparation with our 2SLGBTQIA plus community for some of the past injustices, the the raids that they did. um and And so we were involved with that along with a coalition of of lots of other folks. And um as a result, they actually now have two full-time staff working on that portfolio in the Calgary Police Service. So we have seen some success in some of those small advocacy efforts. And, you know, like really, this is just a small group of people become aware of an issue and write some letters, go to a few meetings, get a little bit of attention. And we we have we have seen some results. It's been really, really gratifying.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds like incredible work. I mean, the the one positive I can see from the Calgary Police Chapel ah situation is that probably those pews weren't being used in Ireland anymore because Ireland has been sectorizing at record rates. But...
00:30:00
Speaker
um You know, i've I've worked with various police agencies ah for my day job over the years, and I know how tricky it is to get them to change directions on anything. So ah hats off to all of you folks who are involved in that, because that sounds like it was a a pile of work ah and probably required a great deal of persistence to apply. um I also would encourage people, if they're interested in learning more about the We Can Reason conference, you can sign up for ah the i think you have a newsletter or email updates. And then ah one of the things I've really loved is to, even though I haven't been to the conference yet, I get emails from Rocky Mountain Atheists saying, here's what some of our speakers have been up to recently. And so then it'll be, you know, different ah videos or articles or appearances by different ah conference attendees and speakers who've been to weekend reasons. So I would encourage everybody to go sign up for that because it's been um it's been a highlight of my inbox that's filled with, you know, ND mattress ads and other things like that.
00:31:07
Speaker
Now that I've said that out loud, all of you can receive those ads too. So you're welcome. Thanks. Thanks, Daniel. That is really nice to hear. Humanist Canada was a sponsor, a major sponsor of the We Can Reason conference this year. So we had several people from Humanist Canada attend, which was really, really wonderful.
00:31:29
Speaker
I'm hoping to attend someday myself as well. Speaking of Humanist Canada, ah earlier in 2025, it was announced that you would be coming on as the new executive director.
00:31:40
Speaker
ah This is your first podcast appearance with us as the new executive director, though not your first podcast appearance total. I think you've been on several over the last little bit, so we're we're behind. um But what prompted you to make a change to shift your focus to the national level?
00:31:59
Speaker
So in 20, 2026, I found, you know, I'd been working in post-secondary for 25 years and it was a wonderful, gratifying career and just, you know, felt like it was time to make a change.
00:32:14
Speaker
This opportunity presented itself and I thought, What an amazing opportunity to be able to do this kind of work full time, like to be a professional humanist. Not many people get to say that. And and it's an it's a gift. It's an absolute gift to be able to take the the work that I have been doing and all of the things that I haven't had time to do and be able to just dig in and and you know wholeheartedly try to advance the cause of of humanism in Canada. And it's really more important now than I think than it ever has been, or at least in my memory. i feel a really a really strong sense of urgency in in building this movement.
00:32:58
Speaker
And, you know, for for lots of reasons. I think, you know, the the world is, yeah there there are some big things happening in the world. yeah And I think a lot of them,
00:33:11
Speaker
can be traced to, you know Christian nationalist movement, a populist movement, but also void of people being able to Articulate and hold their values front and center when they're making decisions. And, you know, I see that it's it's become not only permissible, but celebrated to be mean or to be racist, right? be misogynist. You know, we see the rise of the manosphere, which is really problematic.
00:33:41
Speaker
yeah and And I think a lot of that is happening because as the as our participation in in religious organization declines, not that those were particularly you know morally just institutions in a lot of cases, but they did talk about what What are your values? how How will you use those values to to to guide your decisions, to guide your your your conversations, to guide your voting practices, all of those things? And when people no longer go to those places...
00:34:13
Speaker
um they are not engaging in those kinds of conversations or or those kinds of thought experiments for themselves. This is where I think humanism has a huge role to play. And, you know, ah one of the things, many things that I love about humanism is we're never going to sit up here and tell you, like, this is what you have to believe or this is a value that you have to hold. But what we do say is, you know, live a good life in relationship with others. Think about your responsibilities as part of a community.
00:34:43
Speaker
And, and act accordingly. Right. And so that invites people to think about what actually is, is a good way to live a life, where I think for a lot of people, it's just not on their radar. And, you know, that makes them prime targets for right these movements that I think are are now leading to some huge problems in in in our culture. Right.
00:35:09
Speaker
Yeah, i ah first of all, well said. I wholeheartedly agree. the The absence that can be left when a religious system vacates a life, it'll get filled by something. What that something is is currently up for debate in in our culture. And I think we should be doing, as you say, and and advocating loudly for...
00:35:30
Speaker
ah humanistic principles and pluralistic principles. Also for our listeners benefit, Janely is correct, it is 2026, not 2025 this year. As you can tell, I'm still living in the past, doing my best not to. But um you recently were at our ah annual general meeting for Humanist Canada and talked about some of the highlights of Humanist Canada's recent activity and our
Humanist Canada’s Growth and Chaplaincy Program
00:35:54
Speaker
successes. i was wondering if you might share some of those with our listeners right now, because I think that it's been ah it's been a very ah it's been a very good year. It's been a very good few months since you've been on board. And I think that those things should be highlighted and our success is highlighted. So would you mind sharing a bit of that with people?
00:36:12
Speaker
I would love to. So, ah you know, the the organization itself is in in know in a very stable position. So, you know, financially, these these things are important to to note that Humanist Canada is in a position where we can grow. where we we can expand our programming and really start exploring new ways of of being humanist together and of of promoting Humanist Canada. So I think that's first, um like that it's really, really ah an exciting position to be in, to be in such a broad, stable organization. Lots and lots of things have have gone on. Humanist Canada is...
00:36:55
Speaker
an amazing organization run almost entirely by volunteers like Daniel, he volunteers to do this podcast and many, many others. And it is actually really um astounding to think about everything that's done in this organization by people who just believe in it and and volunteer their time. So we have a chaplaincy chaplaincy program. so you know, we're, we're,
00:37:18
Speaker
really trying to expand the opportunities for humanist chaplains to show up in spaces where typically they have not been represented. So our our one of our biggest successes has been with the Canadian Armed Forces. We have one full-time humanist chaplain as part of the Canadian Armed Forces and another one who's just finishing some of the some of the training pieces.
00:37:44
Speaker
And we have two more people who have just been accepted to the program within the Canadian Armed Forces to become humanist chaplains. So this is huge. This is an and opportunity for for many members of the CAF to be able to speak to someone when when they're looking for meaning or they're looking for spiritual guidance, but they do not believe in in inner a religious tradition. So huge hugely important, huge victory for Humanist Canada and those folks who've been working with with the CAF. We also have a whole civilian network of humanist chaplains. And our hope is that those chaplains will be able to show up in spaces like hospitals, or corrections centers or universities where there are chaplains who doing a lot of work in those places that um people without a religious background don't have an opportunity to speak to someone. So that is um it's growing. and i And I will just note, we do use the word chaplain, humanist chaplain, even though it does have you know very religious connotations. And and we do that we've chosen to do that so that we can get into those spaces.
00:38:56
Speaker
and And so that we're sort of speaking the same language. So that's been a ah huge victory. um Another area of growth is our officiant program. So we have um hundred and about 160 humanist officiants who do ceremonies. Now, right now, most of those are in Ontario because as of this point, Ontario is the only province where we can certify humanist officiants to do wedding ceremonies. It's ah it's a ah legal issue. um And so that really has been where the majority of the growth has happened. However,
00:39:37
Speaker
We have a couple of test cases and a few other provinces that we're trying to get that same status. And um all of the other kinds of ceremonies that our officiants do can be done without um the provincial certification. So end of life ceremonies, new life ceremonies, naming ceremonies, any of those kinds of things, any, you know, Ceremonies around changing of the seasons, anniversaries, any of that kind of stuff that um that that an officiant or somebody who celebrates so celebrates different rituals a can be done by any of our humanist officiants. So that is a really exciting program. And stay tuned because I think we're going to have some really good news from at least one other province soon.
00:40:28
Speaker
We have an amazing group of people running the Morgenthaler committee. So Dr. Henry Morgenthaler was the founder a Humanist Canada. And of course his main focus was on women's reproductive rights and access to abortion. So our Morgenthaler committee is very, very active in that space. They have their own podcast called Choice Chat. They're active within ah many different coalitions of women's women's health and women's reproductive rights groups. And they will be expanding their focus a little bit in the coming years to talk more broadly about other women's reproductive reproductive health issues. Really an amazing, amazing group of women. We have, of course, our
00:41:11
Speaker
Our amazing social media people who are trying to do a lot of outreach and and keep Humanist Canada on the radar. And of course, that goes together with our our podcasts. So the other thing that we have is a growing network. of local and online chapters.
00:41:30
Speaker
So we you can find all of that information on our website, humanistscanada.ca. We have chapters springing up all across the country who are doing in-person events. And we have a few chapters that really focus on online events. So people can come and just have some sort of informal chats with those groups. And we have a a youth group forming right now, which will also be online. really to focus on the needs of some of our younger members and our student members.
00:41:58
Speaker
All very exciting. And we have a couple of Francophone groups as well that operate. Very nice. I didn't know about the ah the youth of the Francophone group, so I think that's really that's really exciting too. And um really great ah highlighting, I think, that you you did of the importance of what the the chaplains are doing and and why we have the chaplain program, why they're called chaplains. Ritual and meaning and...
00:42:25
Speaker
ah even what some might term as spirituality, these things can all still be really, really important to people ah outside of religious systems, even to people who would call themselves atheists. And I i think it's great that we have options that don't involve ah you know supernatural elements or superstition or any kind of the the trappings of the religious systems that maybe some of us left behind, but it still can... be opportunities to celebrate things together, ah to make meaning together, to explore life together. And so I think that um anybody interested should definitely check out the chaplain program because it's something that can be ah a huge benefit. And there might even be a chaplain living closer to you than you think. Mm-hmm.
00:43:09
Speaker
I also think that the social media pages have been just on fire lately, ah really producing a lot of good content, drawing attention to the Canadian census, which is ah a really critical issue as we want it to be as accurate as possible.
The Importance of Accurate Religious Data
00:43:23
Speaker
Many people will just kind of check the you know the the box of what they were born as and not what they actually are now um I have a couple of Catholic friends who say, well, I'll be Catholic forever because you never ever stopped being Catholic. You just become a bad Catholic. And ah I thought, well, fair enough, but maybe you still check the the non-religious box on the census. so ah This is an important um advocacy work that we've been involved in as well. And and this is a coalition of secular groups across Canada who have come together to to name this issue.
00:43:59
Speaker
Checking So the question, if you get the long form, the question itself will, uh, is quite biased. It says, um, what religion are you, as opposed to, are you, are you practicing religion? And it says, what religion are you check the, the descriptor, even if you no longer earn are not participating in that really? Yeah. That's it specifically says that. And so it's, it,
00:44:27
Speaker
results in some very biased data. And it's really important because that data then is used by organizations to promote their importance in Canadian society. So we know that at least 40% of Canadians are not religious, not practicing, or nuns or atheists, anywhere on that spectrum. But when you ask a question like that, the the results come out so that the religious organizations can say, actually, no, like we still have this much higher number of people who are who identify as as Christian mostly, right?
00:45:01
Speaker
um And then that translates into policy. It translates into funding structures. So it it is really, really important. Check no religion. Please check no religion. yeah Okay. I didn't know that they worded it like that. Is that how they've always worded it? Or is it new for this time around? No, it has changed over time, but it has been that, um basically that question for the last 40 or 50 years.
00:45:26
Speaker
okay Interesting. ah Well, maybe that's, ah maybe it's time for an advocacy campaign towards Stats Canada because, it part of it because yeah, you and i both have backgrounds in science. And I think that ah the, the way that you ask survey questions is one of not the most ah well-known ways to, to bias your results. So. hundred percent so this, this committee was formed initially to try to get the wording changed on the 2031 census. And then to our surprise, they decided to include the religious question on the 2026 census as well. And so our advocacy efforts have shifted for right now to try to get people to check no religion. And then we do have a plan to ah to lobby for change for the 2031 census question to not be so biased so we stay tuned because we will need everyone to to voice their concern about that question and to get that one changed so
00:46:29
Speaker
Okay, you heard it here, everybody. We're going to put the bat signal up real soon, and there'll be some activities and actions you can take to help support this critical advocacy for the sake of ah data and data accuracy in your country. So let's alter our weight behind that.
00:46:46
Speaker
um There's a lot of really cool things coming up for Humanist Canada. In the near future, we had um know we had some guests on talking about the ah Humanist International World Congress ah coming up, which is in Ottawa this summer.
World Humanist Congress and Strategic Goals
00:47:03
Speaker
um And I wanted to give you the opportunity, if if there's anything that you wanted to highlight about the upcoming Congress. we've We've had some people talking about it, but ah but since that time, a lot more has been planned. There's a lot more ah dialed in about, I think, our speakers and and the activities. So is there anything that you would like to share with our listeners in advance of the World Humanist Congress that will be happening in Ottawa in August 2026?
00:47:32
Speaker
It is such a tremendous opportunity for Humanist Canada to be co-hosting the World Humanist Congress together with Humanist International. i know you've had guests on your podcast before talking about this, but originally it was supposed to be in Washington. And because of the state of affairs in the US, the organizing committee felt that it would ah maybe be unsafe and they would be unable to put on a ah quality conference.
00:47:58
Speaker
And so they moved it up to Ottawa. So we have just taken this opportunity and run with it. This is um we we have some amazing speakers coming. So, you know, Sarah Wilkins La Flamme, I know, has been on the podcast before. Rebecca Goldstein is one of our guests. She's you know quite well known. We will have AC Grayling.
00:48:20
Speaker
speaking at the conference, as well as many, many others. And it's going to you know, very, um actually, ah Dr. Ray, who's on, I think, your last podcast is also going to be part of a panel. So ah it's it's the who's who in the humanist humanist world. We are expecting 500 plus delegates from all over the world. And the, you know, to me,
00:48:47
Speaker
the value of a conference is in those networks and those conversations that you're going to have with the other people. So you you will get to know some people from around Canada. You'll get to know people from around the world who share your values, who really believe in the humanist movement, who are, who are, have some good ideas that you can, you can share, that you can help to to grow this community. um We really think that,
00:49:12
Speaker
of World Humanist Congress as a beginning. Right. Here in Canada. This is, it's an amazing opportunity to bring together people from all around the world. It it won't come around again in my lifetime. So let's, let's have this be a catalyst. for having those conversations with one another, for building the movement. Let's make humanism a household word.
00:49:35
Speaker
Every house and every person in Canada should know what humanism is, should know that it's an option. And it's, it's a, it's a community that they would be welcomed into.
00:49:47
Speaker
That's the goal. Very well said. And I think that as we do that advocacy, as we raise awareness and, ah just spread the message of of what we're about.
00:49:58
Speaker
ah i think a lot of Canadians will discover that they've been humanists for a long time and and that there's a way for them to not only have community, but to work together for a shared future that ah that all Canadians can enjoy. So I think that's it's a great description, a great ah pitch for for the Congress and for what it can be for for the future of humanism and the future of Canada.
00:50:26
Speaker
Humanist Canada members also get a discount for your ticket, so you can visit our your members portal for that information. And I'm sure that the website will be crashing shortly now that we've said that. Excellent. um I did want to start start looking towards more of the future as well, because the Congress is this summer. But as you said, there's a lot more to do after that. What would some of your goals be for Humanist Canada and for humanism in Canada over the next five to 10 years?
00:50:58
Speaker
I think we need to, we need to grow our community. So a big focus will be on some of our local chapters and the, and the work that they're doing. So we've been been bringing together those folks to share ideas and, and finding ways for humanist Canada as a national organization to support local groups, to grow, and, and to make connections with each other. So that, that is definitely a focus, uh, for the near future. We are, um,
00:51:25
Speaker
We're looking to expand our education opportunities. So we are right now in development of four different courses for the fall. i won't spoil i won't spoil the the the by by leaking the the titles of those, but they will be coming soon. And so really good opportunities for people to dig a little deeper into some of the ideas of humanism and and where it came from and some of the more specifics about it. um And we're also really um wanting to take a little more seriously some of the advocacy work that that and needs to be done. We're in a moment, I think, in history where ah we if we don't if we don't stand up, um we're going to see some of our our human rights and our democratic rights deteriorate in in the name of you know the Christian nationalist movement that really is already...
00:52:19
Speaker
in in places like Alberta where I live, already chipping away at some of the some of the you know, the human rights that that we we thought we could take for granted. You know, for example, Humanist Canada put out a position statement just a few weeks ago about medical access, medical assistance in dying, where the Alberta government has has put forward legislation that would limit access to that.
00:52:47
Speaker
and And all in the name of, you know, the... Christian nationalists. Right. Advocating for that kind of thing. So, so we need, we need to be really, you know, we, we need to be, we need to take it very seriously.
00:53:02
Speaker
And we need to be really active in that space. So we have a committee that's being formed now to, to really start focusing on those issues. Thank you for that. And if people are interested in getting involved in those committees or that work, they can visit our website where we have ah pages about volunteering and opportunities and how to sign up and how to become a member, which is, again, one of the best ways that you can support Humanist Canada is to become a regular member and support us on a yearly basis. um As we're wrapping up right now, ah i usually end by asking people for one book and one band recommendation. I'm not sure if you've thought of that, but what's one book you've been enjoying recently or that you think your everybody should read? And what's one band that you think everybody should listen to? Well, I...
00:53:49
Speaker
I have, I'm right now I'm reading a book called five little Indians by Michelle good. This is a book about a residential school survivors. It's fiction, but it is actually just um it's, it's an amazing book. It's, it sweeps you into that world and gives you an understanding as, you know, as a, as a non-indigenous person, it it really puts you in walks, you walk in their shoes and and see what that, you know, a snapshot of what that might have been like to have survived that um that, that kind of a system.
00:54:23
Speaker
um i you know, music is a really big part of my life. So I be very, very difficult for me to just give you one band. But I, you know, I i really have been trying to listen to a lot more Canadian music lately and and try to bolster some of our our Canadian musicians. And, you know, I'm a child of the 90s. So, you know, Blue Rodeo and Tragically Hip and 40, those were my bands. But currently, i would recommend that people check out, you know, Metric and Said the Whale, The Beaches, Mother Mother, July Talk. rural Alberta Advantage. There's lots of great Canadian bands out there. So go and explore and and give our CanCon a bit of a boost.
00:55:11
Speaker
Absolutely. no ah Nothing wrong with Canadiana when it comes to to music. I was ah was just at a show not that long ago with the Headstones and Finger Eleven and the Tea Party. Great 90s bands right there. Yeah, right there. And it was at the the Winnipeg ah arena, can't remember what's called now, the Canada Life Centre, I think. And and Hugh Dillon, the lead singer of the Headstones, who was Fred Gord Downie, the former lead singer of the Tragically Hip, who passed away from from cancer. And for any of our listeners who haven't heard who the hip are, and he actually sang some some hip tunes at the at the show, which was really, really special for those of us who didn't get to see the farewell tour for the Tragically Hip. So yes, absolutely. Great band recommendations metric. I can't think of a song of metrics that I don't like. Yeah, really great. Well, as we're wrapping up now, I just want to say generally we've had several activists and advocates on this podcast and on
00:56:16
Speaker
ah the the Choice Chat podcast as well. it It seems to me that one of the unique things that ah that you're bringing here, not only in this conversation, but to our organization, ah is a wealth of experience in creating advocacy, in ah in in science, in education, and and a passion for using those skills to expand the reach and scope of a movement that's that's going to continue to ah change our nation's future and hopefully the future of the rest of our species, not just for the secular community, but for everybody.
00:56:52
Speaker
um It feels to me recently like the energy in the room for the whole organization has ah has only increased thanks to your involvement. ah Frankly, i've never been more excited for a future. And ah i want to thank you for being a guest here on the show and also want to thank you for your leadership. And I look forward to everything that comes next.
00:57:14
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me, Daniel. this It's a gift for me to serve in this capacity. And I just really it's onward and upwards for us. Absolutely. Take care, Janelle. Thank you for coming. Thank you.
00:57:29
Speaker
Thank you for listening to The Voice of Canadian Humanism. We would like to especially thank our members and donors who make our work possible. If you feel that this is the type of programming that belongs in the public conversation, please visit us at humanistcanada.ca and become a member and or donate.
00:57:49
Speaker
You can also like and subscribe to us on social media at Humanist Canada. We'll see you next time.