Making Resistance Real

In August 2026, more than 500 humanists from more than 40 countries gathered in Ottawa for the World Humanist Congress. At that meeting, delegates adopted the Ottawa Declaration on Humanism as Resistance, a statement responding to authoritarianism, political intimidation, hatred, misinformation, threats to human rights, and the erosion of democratic institutions.

The declaration begins with an important proposition: humanism goes beyond a set of values to be an active approach to life. That distinction matters. Most humanists already support values such as reason, freedom of thought, human dignity, compassion, democracy, secular government, scientific inquiry, and universal human rights. But values have little social effect unless people are willing to defend and apply them. The Ottawa Declaration therefore presents humanism not only as something we believe, but something we do. For Humanist Ottawa, that raises a practical question: what would Humanism as Resistance actually look like in Ottawa?

It doesn’t require turning Humanist Ottawa into a political party or expecting all members to become activists. Neither does resistance automatically mean confrontation, protest or partisan politics. On the contrary, it can mean challenging misinformation, defending someone’s right to live according to their own beliefs or non-beliefs, supporting evidence-based public policy, promoting critical thinking, speaking against discrimination, defending the separation of religion and government, helping people engage constructively with disagreements, or simply refusing to participate in the dehumanization of people with whom we disagree. Our challenge is to translate those principles into specific actions that you and I participating in a volunteer community organization can realistically undertake.

Let’s Start with Ourselves

Humanism as Resistance begins at the individual level. One of the simplest contributions any of us can make is to become more careful about the information we consume and share.

Before reposting an alarming claim on Facebook or forwarding it to friends, spend a couple of minutes checking where it came from, looking for the original source, seeing whether reliable organizations are reporting the same thing, or asking whether the headline accurately represents the evidence. The claim could turn out to be pure baloney.  (https://centerforinquiry.org/learning-resources/carl-sagans-baloney-detection-kit/)

When something confirms our existing beliefs particularly strongly, that’s usually the best time to check it more carefully. Humanists need to carefully strive not merely to be skeptical of ideas we oppose, but to apply the same standards of evidence to ideas we want to believe. That’s resistance to misinformation in its most basic form.

We can also become more comfortable asking questions rather than immediately arguing. When someone makes a bold claim we might disagree with, instead of beginning with, “That’s ridiculous,” we can ask:

• What leads you to that conclusion?

• How confident are you that this is true?

• What evidence would change your mind?
• How could we determine whether this claim is accurate?

Those questions don’t guarantee agreement. But they do encourage reasoning rather than hostility and help preserve the possibility of dialogue across divides. Democratic consensus in a pluralistic society is built in this way.

Participate in Democracy

Voting matters, but democratic participation should not occur only once every few years. This year municipal elections are being held. As Humanist Ottawa members we could realistically commit to doing just a few easy things:

Attend an Ottawa public consultation.

Write a thoughtful letter to a City Councillor. 

Submit comments on a municipal government policy.

Attend a municipal council or committee meeting in person or online.

Volunteer in defending a human-rights issue you care about.

These are modest yet concrete actions individually. But multiplied across a community, they matter with impact.

What could Humanist Ottawa do?

Individual actions become more powerful when people act together. With limited resources and volunteer capacity, Humanist Ottawa could choose a handful of achievable projects for the coming year.

1. We could host a public discussion series

Our community could organize four quarterly public events connected to the Ottawa Declaration, drawing on relevant specialists:

• Recognizing misinformation: algorithms, misleading statistics, manipulated images and AI-generated content.
• Understanding democratic erosion: warning signs, examined without endorsing or opposing a political party.
• Disagreeing constructively: polarization, Street Epistemology, intellectual humility and productive dialogue.
• Defending freedom of thought: persecution of atheists, humanists, religious minorities and dissidents, drawing on Humanists International’s Freedom of Thought Report.

2. We could offer a practical critical-thinking workshop

Our community could develop a 90-minute workshop on evaluating online information, offered two or three times during the year. Using actual examples, participants could practise tracing original sources, identifying unreliable websites, distinguishing evidence from commentary, recognizing emotional manipulation and evaluating scientific claims. They would also learn when evidence is insufficient for a conclusion.

The aim would be to strengthen people’s methods for deciding what deserves to be believed, a practical expression of humanism’s commitment to reason and critical inquiry.

3. We could establish an advocacy team

The Humanist Ottawa Board could authorize a three-to-five-person team to monitor secular government, freedom of religion or belief, discrimination against non-religious people, evidence-based policy, human rights and democratic participation.

Its purpose would be to identify issues where a humanist perspective could contribute, without prescribing political orthodoxy or responding to every controversy. Aim for three substantive interventions in twelve months: letters to government, consultation submissions, public statements, open letters or coalition participation.

4. We could build community partnerships

Our community could establish two working relationships with organizations whose concerns overlap ours, such as civil liberties, science education, reproductive rights, 2SLGBTQIA+ equality, freedom of expression, refugee support, medical assistance in dying, media literacy or democratic engagement.

Cooperation would not require agreement on everything. We can work with a religious organization on refugee protection while disagreeing about religion. Partnerships based on shared goals can counter polarization while preserving our humanist identity.

5. We could create a home for resistance

Create a permanent website resource centre featuring the Declaration, related Humanist Ottawa activities and accessible resources on critical thinking, misinformation, secularism, human rights, democratic participation, freedom of thought and constructive dialogue. Include links to organizations doing related work. This would demonstrate an ongoing commitment beyond the 2026 Congress.

Measuring progress

A year from now, Humanist Ottawa members should be able to ask: “What did we actually do?” A practical scorecard would be four public discussions, two workshops, three advocacy interventions, two partnerships and one online resource centre. These goals would offer a manageable way to turn a declaration into action. Success means making useful contributions within our capacity, rather than transforming Canadian society.

Creating synergy

As humanists, we must also build alternatives: a culture that values evidence, democracy that accommodates disagreement, institutions that treat religious and non-religious citizens equally, and communities where people can question beliefs without fear. Human dignity should never depend on race, religion, nationality, sexuality, political affiliation or life stance.

Our community needs to choose achievable projects, invite members and non-members to participate, work with others and review progress annually. Humanism becomes resistance when our values shape how we live, responding collectively when those values are threatened. It’s a defining feature of who we are as humanists.