Statement to Address Discriminatory Oversight in Canadian Special Humanitarian Assistance Program for Afghan Nationals

October 4th, 2021

The tenuous and dangerous living circumstances in Afghanistan following the nation’s fall to the Taliban are dire for many of its citizens, especially atheists and other apostates. Humanist, atheist, and agnostic organizations in Canada represent a diverse group of people who believe that each of us has the responsibility to give meaning to our own life. Those citizens finding meaning in rethinking and rejecting the idea of supernatural entities, including gods, must be as respected as religious believers. In the spirit of the universalism of secular humanism, a consortium of Canada's many humanist, atheist and agnostic organizations have come together to urgently call upon the government to ameliorate a grave error in the Special Humanitarian Assistance Program for Afghan Nationals.

The current policy language of the Special Humanitarian Assistance Program for Afghan Nationals is as follows:

The language used in this policy that exclusively designates eligibility based on membership in a persecuted religious minority group explicitly discriminates against those persecuted on the basis of their non-belief and atheism. 

Atheists and apostates from Islam in Afghanistan face extreme danger and this serious risk should be neither overlooked nor dismissed. It is well established that the classical punishment for apostasy in Islamic jurisprudence is death. Senior Taliban officials have recently announced their intention to impose strict traditional Sharia (Islamic law) punishments, including execution and the amputation of hands. Thus, the safety of all apostates and non-believers is of the utmost concern.

This policy's highly restrictive current language fails to meet Article 18 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrines the observance and promotion of "freedom of religion or belief." The government of Canada is also failing to fulfill its responsibility as a party to the United Nations 1951 UN Refugee Convention, which describes refugees as those who are "unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion."

Our collaborative endeavour urgently calls upon the government of Canada to immediately issue a clarification of its Special Humanitarian Assistance Program for Afghan Nationals, to explicitly include non-religious Afghan atheists, humanists, and agnostics.

The above statement is supported by the following organizations and individuals:

Abdullah Sameer, YouTuber & Blogger, Friendly Ex-Muslim, & Previous Founder, Light Upon Light and Verse By Verse Quran

Ali A. Rizvi, M.D., Author, “The Atheist Muslim”, & Co-Host, Secular Jihadists for a Muslim Enlightenment podcast

Andy Blair, Founder & Chair, Ubuntu Canada Refugee

Armin Navabi, Founder, Atheist Republic, Author, “Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God”, & Co-Host, Secular Jihadists for a Muslim Enlightenment podcast

Prof. Arthur Schafer, Founding Director, Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, University of Manitoba

Babak Yazdi, Executive Director, Kanoon-e-Khavaran

Barrie Webster, Vice President, Secular Connexion Séculière

Christine Ball, Co-President, Ontario Humanist Society

Christopher DiCarlo, Ph.D., Philosopher, Founder, Critical Thinking Solutions, & author of multiple titles including, “So You Think You Can Think? Tools for Having Intelligent Conversations and Getting Along”

David Rand, President, Libres penseurs athées — Atheist Freethinkers

Diane Bruce, Director, Centre for Inquiry Canada, & Branch Manager, Centre for Inquiry Canada — Ottawa

Doug Thomas, President, Secular Connexion Séculière

Edan Tasca, Board Member, Centre For Inquiry Canada

Fika Taillon, Founder & Organizer, Minds & Hearts Without Borders

George Cordahi, Vice President, Halton Peel Humanist Community

Gus Lyn-Piluso, Ph.D., President, Centre for Inquiry Canada

Henry Beissel, Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Concordia University, Montreal

Homa Arjomand, Active Director, The Cultural Bridges Association, & Coordinator, The Campaign Open Borders for Afghan Women and Children Fleeing the Taliban

Jannalee Morris, President, Atheist Society of Calgary

Jason Sylvester, Board Member at Large, Atheist Alliance International

Jocelyne Lemoine, Branch Manager, Centre for Inquiry Canada — Winnipeg

Katherine Dimou, President, Society of Freethinkers

Kendra Getty, Branch Manager, Centre for Inquiry Canada — Saskatoon

Kenn Bur, Founder, Secular Wall

Kerry Bowser, Co-President, Ontario Humanist Society

Lawrence M. Krauss, Ph.D., President, The Origins Project Foundation, Host, The Origins Podcast, & authorof multiple titles including, “The Greatest Story Ever Told--So Far: Why Are We Here?”

Leonard Walsh, Branch Manager, Centre for Inquiry Canada — Nova Scotia

Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson, M.Ed., Ph.D., President, The New Enlightenment Project: A Canadian Humanist Initiative

Madeline Weld, Ph.D., Co-Editor, Humanist Perspectives magazine

Martin Frith, President, Humanist Canada

Muhammad Syed, President, Ex-Muslims of North America

Neil Bernstein, YouTuber, Neil The 604 Atheist

Onur C. Romano, Human Rights Chair, Centre For Inquiry Canada, & President, Ateizm Derneği International

Randolf Richardson, President, Canadian atheists

Richard Dowsett, President, Halton Peel Humanist Community, & Coordinator, Humanist Association of Toronto 

Richard G. L. Thain, D.D.S., Founding board member, Centre For Inquiry Canada, & Founder, Humanist Canada Student Essay Contest

Richard Young, M.Eng.,Co-Editor, Humanist Perspectives magazine

Robert Hamilton, President, Humanist Ottawa

Sandra Dunham, BSc, MPA, Executive Director of Development, Centre For Inquiry Canada

Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Independent Researcher, Journalist

Seanna Watson, Vice President, Centre for Inquiry Canada

Sheila Ayala, President, Secular Ontario

Simon Parcher, President, Canadian Humanist Publications

Sohail Ahmad, President, Ex-Muslims of Toronto

Sophie Shulman, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sci., Branch Manager, Centre For Inquiry Canada — Victoria

Steven Pinker, Ph.D., Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, & author of multiple titles including, “Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters”

Susanna McIntyre, President & CEO, Atheist Republic

Tahmineh Sadeghi, Spokesperson, Hambasteghi - International Federation of Iranian Refugees

Tarek Fatah, Fellow, Middle East Forum, Columnist, The Toronto Sun, & author of multiple tiles including, “The Jew is Not My Enemy”,

Yasmine Mohammed, Founder, Free Hearts Free Minds, & Author, “Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam”

For more information contact:

Doug Thomas, President, Secular Connexion Séculière

+1 (519) 580 4071