Toronto Oasis, Secular Community

Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue).  Come early for coffee and conversation at 10:30 am.

This Sunday we will have a discussion on the drawing of legal, moral, and social lines with respect to speech and criticism of religion in a free and democratic society.  Our featured speaker on this topic will be Sandy Donaldson.  Sandy is a labour lawyer in Toronto, specializing in human rights for a large provincial union. He is a co-founder of the Atheist Community of Toronto meetup group and co-hosted the “Salmon of Doubt” atheist podcast.

Our featured musicians will be Emilyn Stam and John Williams.  Emilyn and John merge the melodic voices of violin and clarinet, creating a modern sound steeped in tradition. Not limited to original music, their repertoire often has a strong connection to traditional dance, and explores a wide palette of sound through various combinations of violin, clarinet, accordion, harmonica and piano. They first started playing music together as members of the Lemon Bucket Orkestra. Currently John also leads the 6-piece old-time jazz band The Boxcar Boys and Emilyn tours with Italian diatonic accordion virtuoso Filippo Gambetta. Their website is  https://emilynandjohn.com/

You can RSVP for this on our Meetup page at:
https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/jdmkqqyzdbgc/

Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue).  Come early for coffee and conversation at 10:30 am.

Factory farming has wide-ranging impacts: on health/nutrition, animal welfare, social justice, environment/sustainability, women’s rights/gender issues, economics, and world politics. Our featured speaker Sangeeta Kumar will try to touch upon all these issues and help to stir up a dynamic and educational conversation about the topic we all love – food!

Sangeeta Kumar has been an advocate for social justice for over 30 years. In high school she began teaching students about the impact of their choices on the planet. Influenced by the works of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., her passion for social justice and education led to a degree in Environmental Leadership and a M.Ed. in Humane Education. 

She has spoken to schools all over North America educating students about the environmental impact of our food choices, the philosophy behind animal welfare and how to make choices which are kinder to animals. She has been invited to speak in schools across North America such as Stanford and Princeton University. Nothing excites her more than the idea of inspiring people to leave this world a more compassionate place.  Her website is http://inspireducation.ca 

Our featured musician this Sunday will be Kathryn Merriam.   Described by audiences as ‘other-worldly’ and ‘transcendent’, Kathryn Merriam’s songs interweave melismatic melodies with soaring lyricism, evoking flavours of Joni Mitchell, Vashti Bunyan and Kate Bush. Accompanying herself on the harp, Kathryn explores the intersections between folk song tradition and mystical music – making subtle observations of the natural world, and reminding listeners to widen their lens and see life with curious, awe-filled eyes. 

You can RSVP for this on our Meetup page at: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/jdmkqqyzdbnb/

Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue).  Come early for coffee and conversation at 10:30 am.

Did you know that competitive athletes’ contracts prohibit them from accessing their own countries’ courts? Because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the self-proclaimed ‘supreme authority for world sport’, athletes must bring any dispute over gender, doping, eligibility, contracts or other sport-related issues to an arbitration body that it established in 1983, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).  CAS has close ties with the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and there are serious conflict-of-interest and other ethical concerns arising from these linkages.  In short, CAS decisions often penalize innocent athletes while guilty ones go free, and what happens at the highest levels of sport has impacts throughout the system.  Thanks to the mainstream media, sport celebrities are admired and emulated by young and old, whether or not they deserve the status of moral exemplar (or in mediaspeak, role model).

Speaking on this topic, our featured speaker this Sunday will be Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto and author of the book Gender, Athletes’ Rights, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.  Helen Jefferson Lenskyj grew up in Australia and has lived in Toronto since 1966. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in 1983, and was a professor from 1986 until retiring in 2007.   As well as writing books, she enjoys swimming and kayaking.  Her website is  www.helenlenskyj.ca

You can RSVP for this on our Meetup page at: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/jdmkqqyzdbfb/

Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue).  Come early for coffee and conversation at 10:30 am.

The Bruce Trail is Canada’s oldest and longest marked footpath running along the Niagara Escarpment in southern Ontario from Niagara to Tobermory. The Bruce Trail spans almost 900 km of main Trail and over 400 km of associated side trails and is a UNESCO World Biosphere. It is recognized for its diverse natural landscape that supports a variety of ecosystems located in the heart of Canada’s most densely populated region. It is home to an outstanding assortment of flora and fauna including 36 species of reptiles and amphibians, 53 species of mammals, 90 species of fish and more than 350 species of birds.

This Sunday, our featured speaker, Graham Allen, will highlight the importance of the Bruce Trail to preserving Canada’s biodiversity, its history and the many ways you can enjoy the Bruce Trail. Graham Allen is Vice President of the Toronto Bruce Trail Club (TBTC), one of the nine member clubs that comprise the Bruce Trail Conservancy. He has been involved with the Bruce Trail since 2011 and completed hiking the entire trail in 2014. The TBTC is the largest of the nine clubs with over 3000 members. Graham’s other pursuits include volunteering with Mountain Equipment Co-Op, white water canoeing and skiing. Graham joined the Ontario Public Service in 2007 and is a Manager, Procurement and prior to that worked in Global Supply Chain for a Canadian mining company. Graham is a graduate of UBC’s Sauder School of Business and lives in Toronto. 

Our featured musician this Sunday will be Julia Fedec. At 21 years old, Julia Fedec has kicked off her music career with works that have been carried with her for years. For Julia, music has been the outlet through which she explores herself and the world around her – the only outlet that seemed apt to express the beauties and pains of vulnerability, finding inner strength and the complexities of life.  Julia only started performing publicly in 2018, and is in the process of writing and recording new music to release. You can check out a sampling of her music here: https://soundcloud.com/ueds/tracks

You can RSVP for this on our Meetup page at: https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/257294309/

Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue).  Come early for coffee and conversation at 10:30 am.

Resilience is a vital aspect of human flourishing. It encompasses many skill sets and capacities, both mental and physical. Let’s discuss resilience and how to grow more resilient, so as to avoid burnout and stagnation, and increase the likelihood of finding fulfillment in life. 

Our featured speaker will be Laval Martin, a corporate trainer on topics such as resilience, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, and mindfulness (lavalmartinconsulting.com). Holding a Master of Social Work degree, he also provides psychotherapy and relationship therapy (wisemindtoronto.com). Additionally, Laval has practiced various martial arts and self-defence systems since 2001, with a focus on avoiding and de-escalating conflict. He is a full-instructor of Senshido and also holds an instructor certification with Safe International. Laval has been hosting a monthly Beer and Philosophy Night for over four years.

You can RSVP for this on our Meetup page at https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/257294289/

This Sunday our featured speakers Joanna and Taylor Barratt from Authentic Relating Toronto (http://www.circling.ca/) will interactively present and discuss some of the underlying concepts that build the foundation for the authentic relating movement.

How do a former production coordinator and software developer end up leading a personal development community? By discovering Authentic Relating 6-weeks into their relationship, watching the shifts within their relationship and within themselves. As their communication changed, they quickly realized this was something they needed to dive further into and to share these transformative practices with others.

Our featured musician is Georgia Hathaway. At times dark, at times funny and irreverent, Georgia brings you an intimate and unique set of blues-inspired original songs, weaving in spoken word, laughter, and other noises. Using images from nature and personal stories, she muses on death, love, shadows, and other themes, all to the accompaniment of slide and picked guitar. http://www.georgiahathaway.com/

You can RSVP for this on our Meetup page at https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/257294264/

Our event starts at 11 am on the 2nd floor of the Koffler House (569 Spadina Avenue).  Come early for coffee and conversation at 10:30 am.

Our featured speaker,  Catherine Francis, will discuss Bill C-16.  Bill C-16 amended the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code in 2017 to protect gender expression and gender identity.

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 

Our featured musical act will be Amateur.   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/

You can RSVP for this on our Meetup page at https://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Oasis/events/254367798/