HUMAN LINK visual arts project - 1996-1998

HumanLink was a vehicle (and a publication) for socially concerned artists in Toronto. Its mission was to give local photographers and artists an alternative outlet for their work, and to create links in the community at the same time. HumanLink published five times in the two years that it existed, on themes like Youth, Health and Housing.

"This project stems from the ideas of The Humanist Movement. We believe that the human being is the central value and that it is up to ordinary people like us to make the world we live in a better place. We believe that all human beings are equal, and thus we exalt freedom, non-violence and diversity."

CORPORATE INTERESTS or HUMAN RIGHTS? - 1996

Press Conference in Support of the Friends of the Lubicon
with Alan Borovoy (Civil Liberties Association), Patrick Watson (broadcaster, writer), Roberto Verdecchia (Humanist Movement) and David Suzuki.

Sept. 15, 1996.
- photo by H. Martinuk

In 1996, the mutinational pulp and paper company Daishowa took Lubicon Nation supporters  "Friends of the Lubicon" to court over a boycott campaign of Daishowa products that the Friends had organized. The Alberta provincial government had given Daishowa the rights to clear-cut trees on traditional unceded Lubicon territory and the Friends' boycott campaign was started in order to put public pressure on Daishowa to not cut in that area until a reserve agreement could be reached between the Lubicon Lake Nation and the provincial and federal governments. In essence, the lawsuit was a dangerous attack on citizen's rights and freedom of expression, but the print and TV medias gave it next to no attention. The Humanist Movement, among other things, organised this press conference with some high-profile Canadians in order to try to get some coverage for the boycott-lawsuit story.

"It is clear to us that Daishowa vs. Friends of the Lubicon represents an attempt by a large transnational corporation to use the laws and the legal system of this country as a weapon against Canadian citizens. We regard this - and trade agreements like the Multilateral Agreement on Investment - as evidence of a dangerous effort to establish corporate interests ahead of human rights.

This then is a call to all Canadian politicians at the national, provincial and municipal levels to affirm in speech and action the principles of Real Democracy: that is, that Canada belongs to us, its citizens, and that our rights are more important than the interests of any corporation."

- statement read by HM spokesperson

RYERSON STUDENTS UNION - 1995

The Ryerson Students Union was started in 1995 by three members of the Humanist Movement at Ryerson Polytechnic University.

"The Ryerson Students Union arose out of a permanent feeling that the student government at Ryerson was not working in favour of the student movement. In reaction to the Ryerson Student Administrative Council's corporate agenda, we are founding the RSU to promote a student agenda based on education as a human right, and to be a vehicle for student activism. We have chosen the name 'Ryerson Students Union' because when the Ryerson Student Administrative Council gave up that name earlier in 1995, they demonstrated their desire to administrate students as opposed to uniting them. The RSU was initiated by members of the Humanist Movement. We believe in freedom, diversity, and non-violence, and that health and education are basic human rights."

- from "Document of the Ryerson Students Union"

PIGOCRACY VS. REAL DEMOCRACY - 1997

Humanist Party Federal Election Campaign

In 1997, the Humanist Party put forward its first candidate in a federal election in the riding of Trinity-Spadina (home of the Annex Echo and Neighbourhood Centre). Members and supporters of the HP took to the streets to warn people about voting for the Pigocracy ("the rule of the disgusting") and to put forward the Real Democracy and Human Rights platform of the HP.