Amateur is the solo project of self-teaching composer and accordionist Tristan Murphy. The title “Amateur” is both a disclaimer and a mission statement: a confession that he does not have formal training or a depth of cultural lore, nor any professional comprehension of genre or trend; but also a reminder that it does not matter, and that music can be made in a way that is explorative, for its own enjoyment, without striving toward or against existing musical standards. A link to Amateur: https://www.facebook.com/anamateur/
Kid Grit’s folk songs are quiet and pensive reflections of a life lived. From the depths of isolation possible in a digital age, to the heights of exaltation, living and growing up in nature. His music travels through the processes of life and how we heal, through gentle whisperings, swelling warm harmonies, and sometimes painful personal admissions – attempting to find peace and truth in the smallest of things.
Erik Bleich is a singer songwriter whose genre blends classic pop and folk traditions – from street lit lullabies to manic, rambling romps. It’s his vision of folk music for the Internet Age. Check out his website: www.erikbleich.com
Cassie Norton is the music director of Toronto Oasis. At times fragile and sweet, at other times strong, bold and even harsh, this Toronto-based violinist/singer-songwriter tells the stories behind her lyrics with sound. Cassie’s music is, at times friendly, familiar, and simple, examining ordinary characters with an extraordinary level of depth. Other times it is more adventurous, rumbling with dissonant and irreverent sounds and epic themes.
Cassie and her band have been performing at Toronto venues such as Burdock Hall, Arrayspace, and The Supermarket since January 2018, and released their first EP: Lullaby for the End of Time in February 2019. In addition, Cassie has recorded two full length albums as a solo artist, Little Strength (2009) and Quiet Wilderness (2010).
When she isn’t busy making her own music, Cassie shares her love of music with others through teaching. She teaches a variety of private and ensemble classes at Regent Park School of Music, and through her private studio. Check out her website: https://www.cassienorton.com/
Catherine Francis holds Bachelor of Arts (1981) and Bachelor of Law (1985) degrees from the University of Toronto and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1987. Catherine is a long-time partner at Minden Gross LLP, a mid-sized downtown Toronto law firm, practicing principally in the areas of commercial and insolvency litigation. Catherine was raised in a secular household with a strong belief in equality rights and is keenly interested in legal issues affecting the interests of non-believers and the separation of Church and State. Her website is: https://www.mindengross.com/our-people/details/catherine-francis
Clive Hannah is a Toronto Oasis volunteer, helping us manage our social media. He has a passion for community building. In addition to his volunteer work with Oasis, Clive is also an organizer for Toronto Adults with ADHD Support Group and volunteers his time with a men’s group called MasterHeart. Professionally, Clive is an independent software consultant in IT Enterprise Architecture. All of Clive’s work, professional and volunteer, is driven by wanting to create his life rather than letting life happen to him.
Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30am.
Dave Warnock
Our featured speaker will be Dave Warnock, a former pastor who is now atheist. Diagnosed with ALS in February 2019, he has been traveling the country, talking about living and dying as an atheist, grabbing as many moments as he can. For more information, you can check out his website: https://daveoutloud.com/
Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30am.
Over the past 20 years research has resulted in the concept of distinct right brain left brain functionality being discredited. However recent studies have shown that the dual functions of the brain do explain what happens when we dream or have intuition, and the dangers of trying to repress our dreams. In this talk we will learn a little about dreams and a lot about ourselves.
Phil Cheney
Our featured speaker on this topic will be Phil Cheney. Phil ‘Philosofree’ Cheney is awed by the Cosmos, and excited about human potential. He is a renaissance man who appreciates life, having worked in over 55 countries, including as a university lecturer in his native Australia, trade leader in Thailand, Government budget consultant in Papua New Guinea, software distributor in Zimbabwe, marketer in Germany, Building Construction in China, farm exporting in Japan and author in his current home in Toronto.
Philosofree is a mystic who is curious about integrating science and the metaphysical. He has published 8 books, 5 CDs of original music and won awards for software design and clinical practice in medicine. His education background includes degrees in Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology. Phil prioritizes his wife, daughters and grandchildren, and loves to sing and dance with them.
Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30am.
Our featured speaker will be Tim Mt. Pleasant. Through a non-legal frame of reference, Tim will speak about the emerging challenges of requesting information and receiving health care services about Medical Assistance in Dying within Canada. While health care is constitutionally the responsibility of the provinces and territories, the Criminal Code of Canada, at times, precludes the health care practitioners’ duty to their patients. Tim will speak to MAiD, in Ontario specifically. This will touch on the challenges faced by the conception of palliative care and the prohibitive language that continues within Canada’s Criminal Code concerning the counselling of suicide. Tim will utilize patient and practitioner illustrations to provide an alternative to the single-story that we are sometimes subject to, through popular media and current political discourse. The Philosopher Margaret Pabst-Battin is someone who questioned whether suicide could ever be a “rational act.” She would later participate in her own husband’s request for the cessation of medical treatment while lying by his side in bed after a traumatic downhill biking accident. Tim posits that patients, MAiD practitioners, and a large proportion of the population either support or question what MAiD means to them.
Tim Mt. Pleasant
Tim Mt. Pleasant is a First Nations member of the LGBTQ2S+ and Disabled community from Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation and is currently studying Philosophy at Ryerson University. His experience comes from work in the Long-Term Care (10 years), Mental Health/Addictions (8 years) and Public Service Sector during the last 22 years. Tim has an interest in the area of Bioethics and in the values that one assumes when entering various systems, the fluidity of control and capacity, in addition to the new realm of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).
Tim volunteers in areas that allow him to advocate for those with Mental Health or Addictions challenges, including marginalized populations and those that get lost in various systems, specifically within Health Care and Social Services sectors. He has served on the Board of Directors of PFLAG Canada, the Canadian Bioethics Society, ARCH Disability Law Centre, Community Resource Connections of Toronto, Toronto Distress Centres, and the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto. Tim is also a member of and currently sits on the Equity Committee of the Canadian Philosophical Association and Ryerson’s Research Ethics Board. Tim recently completed an Undergraduate placement in Bioethics @ Princess Margaret Cancer Centre / University Health network and is working to complete his final year of Philosophical studies at Ryerson. Tim plans to pursue graduate work in Public Health and Bioethics or Philosophy and Law. This next year will be one where these rather large decisions will be made.
Our program will run from 11 am to 12:30 pm but you can join in to the meeting starting at 10:45 am. Volunteers please join by 10:30am.
Featured Speaker: Marc Schaus
Climate change is the existential threat of our time, but incredible new advancements in science and engineering can still allow us to avoid the worst repercussions of global warming as we work to reverse it over time. Scientists of even ten years ago would not have imagined that in 2020 we would already have solar panels capable of producing clean drinking water for one’s home while simultaneously producing power. Or that labs would be capable of generating jet fuel from landfill trash. We could not have predicted that “smart highways” designed to charge electric vehicles as they drive would be in trial testing. Or, for that matter, the existence of indoor vertical farms managed by hyper-efficient artificial intelligence reducing water use by up to 90 percent and growing crops entirely without pesticides. Join our featured speaker, Marc Schaus, in exploring the new and upcoming innovations in green technology poised to prevent the climate apocalypse―and usher in a sustainable, livable world.
Cover photo of Marc Schaus’ upcoming book: Our Livable World
Marc Schaus is a professional research specialist and science writer. He is the author of Post Secular: Science, Humanism and the Future of Faith, and has written articles that have appeared in Areo Magazine, Free Inquiry Magazine,The Huffington Post, Patheos, and the academic journal Antennae. His new work Our Livable World: Creating the Clean Earth of Tomorrow will be out in October through Diversion Books. He currently resides in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
