The Mouvement laïque québécois (MLQ), the organization Pour les droits des femmes du Québec (PDF-Q) and the Attorney General of Quebec have each written to the Supreme Court requesting that Justice Mahmud Jamal be withdrawn from the case involving Quebec…
PRESS RELEASE, 2024-03-04
For immediate release AFT welcomes judgment of Court of Appeal of Quebec but calls for removal of all mention of religion from Charters Montreal, 4th March 2024 — Atheist Freethinkers (LPA-AFT) heartily welcomes the decision of the Court of Appeal of…
Laïcité de l’État : Québec renouvelle l’utilisation de la clause dérogatoire (State Secularism: Quebec Renews its Use of the Notwithstanding Clause), Hugo Pilon-Larose and the Canadian Press, La Presse, 2024-02-08. The Quebec minister responsible for secularism, Jean-François Roberge, has tabled legislation…
Commission scolaire English-Montréal: 1,3 M$ pour contester la Loi sur la laïcité de l’État (English Montreal School Board: $1.3 million to challenge Quebec’s secularism law), Patrick Bellerose, Journal de Québec, 2024-02-01. The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) has spent, to date, at…
Blog 142: The Gross Incompetence of the Canadian Human Rights Commission
David Rand 2023-11-30 On the website of the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC), there is a page entitled “Discussion Paper on Religious Intolerance,” dated October 23, 2023 and indicating that it is “Anti-racism work.” Given that its topic is religious…
International Solidarity with Religion-State Separation
Publication Date: 2023-11-04 Would your organization like to endorse this declaration? We are looking for associations, internationally, who would be interested in signing. You can reach us via this on-line form. Furthermore, we invite you to publish this declaration on…
2023-10-13: AAI Hot Seat, Arif Hussain Theruvath Interviews David Rand
The following video, recorded 13th October 2023, is an interview of David Rand, president of LPA-AFT and author of Stillbirth, by Arif Hussain Theruvath as part of the AAI Hot Seat series for Atheist Alliance International. Here are the 18…
Thank You Donors!
We Thank Our Donors! Many thanks to each and every one of you who have donated (and some of you, several times!) to our Legal Fund. We are particularly grateful to: the Rassemblement pour la laïcité (Alliance for Secularism) which…
Culture and Citizenship Quebec Program: Two Observations
Nadia El-Mabrouk For Board of Directors of Rassemblement pour la laïcité (RPL, Alliance for Secularism) 2023-08-26 We are delighted with the changes made to the new version of the Culture and Citizenship Quebec (CCQ) program in connection with secularism. Following…
Quebec judge denies request to appeal decision maintaining school prayer space ban, Jacob Serebrin, CTV News, 2023-07-26-court. A Muslim organization and a civil rights group seeking to suspend Quebec’s ban on prayer spaces in public schools have been denied leave…
2023-04-29: Atheist Society of Melbourne, Talk by David Rand
Atheist Society of Melbourne, AustraliaTalk by David Rand “Stillbirth, The Failure of Secularism in the English-Speaking World” Publication Date: 2023-05-05 The following video is an on-line talk, given for the Atheist Society of Melbourne, on 29th April 2023. This talk…
We have learned from the secretary of Secular Ontario that the Board of that organization has adopted a resolution in support of Quebec Bill 21. “Be it resolved that Secular Ontario supports the secular (laicite) legislation of the Quebec National…
2023-04-01: Warsaw, Atheist Days, Talk by David Rand
Comparison of English and French Models of Secularism and the Importance of Universalism David Rand Publication Date: 2023-04-15 The following presentation was given by the author at Atheist Days 2023 in Warsaw, Poland, an event organized by the Kazimierz Łyszczyński…
Les députés québécois unanimes: pas plus de racisme au Québec qu’ailleurs (Quebec MNAs Unanimous: Quebec No More Racist than Elsewhere), Geneviève Lajoie, Journal de Québec, 2023-03-15. Members of all political parties in the National Assembly are unanimous: there is no…
PRESS RELEASE, 2023-02-02
For immediate release AFT denounces Trudeau’s appointment of a religious fundamentalist to the role of combatting “Islamophobia” Montreal, 2nd February 2023 — Atheist Freethinkers (LPA-AFT), an association which defends the rights of atheists and promotes secularism, denounces the appointment, by Prime…
Talk at Book Launch of Stillbirth
David Rand Publication Date: 2023-01-23 The following is the talk given by David Rand, author of the book Stillbirth, The Failure of Secularism in the English-Speaking World at the launch event held at Le Port de tête bookstore, in Montreal,…
What exactly are opponents of Bill 21 advocating?
This is an English translation of an article which appeared in La Presse on 15th November 2022 under the title Que défendent au juste les opposants à la loi 21 ?. Nadia El-Mabrouk, President of Rassemblement pour la laïcité (Alliance for…
Secularism in Quebec: Questions for the Political Parties
A general election will be held in Quebec on October 3rd. The Rassemblement pour la laïcité (Alliance for Secularism) has some important questions for the various political parties. The text below is a translation of an article which appeared in…
Blog 139: Priorities for Secularism in Quebec
David Rand 2022-06-04 The following is a list of priorities as I see them. This is an important topic of discussion. You are invited to leave your comments. This list is of course not exhaustive and the order of priorities…
2022-05-23: Patriots’ Day
23rd May 2022: National Patriots’ Day “That any union between Church and State is hereby declared to be dissolved, and every person shall have the right freely to exercise such religion or belief as his/her conscience dictates.” — Declaration of Independence…
Blog 138: Three Inconvenient Facts about Secularism
David Rand 2022-04-14 There are three important facts which need to be faced if we are to make serious progress towards secularism. The U.S. Constitution is not a good model of secularism. Islamists weaponize the “antiracism” movement in order to…
Toronto man sues City Hall over $100k donation to Quebec Bill 21 challenge, Andrew Lawton, True North, 2022-03-24. A Toronto man has filed a lawsuit against the City of Toronto to scrap its $100,000 payment to a legal fund fighting…
Blog 136: Multiculturalism and Colonialism
Pierre Marchand 2022-01-27 Canadian multiculturalism is pure colonialism. The descendants of British colonists and American loyalists who took refuge here are the masters of the country, regardless of which political party is in power. Nowhere is this colonialism more patent…
Blog 135: Four Myths about Quebec Bill 21
David Rand 2022-01-23 Here are four falsehoods which are regularly heard concerning Quebec Bill 21. The word “myths” in the title is perhaps too weak—the term “lie” would be more appropriate—as opponents of the Bill blithely repeat them. [1] Bill…
Blog 133: Is Quebec Bill 21 Discriminatory?
David Rand 2021-12-28 If you check the text of Quebec’s Bill 21 (officially named An Act respecting the laicity of the State, where “laicity” is a bad translation and should be “secularism”), you will see that the religious symbol ban…