Archive: Humanist Association of London and Area

We were a group of people from London, Ontario, Canada, and the surrounding area who shared the view that humans can live a meaningful, ethical, and joyful life without belief in religion or the supernatural. If you believe in reason, compassion, critical thinking, science, justice, integrity, equality, and tolerance … you were welcome in our community!

•  We met on the second Wednesday of each month (except July, August, and December) at 7:00 pm in the Stephenson & Hunt Room at the London Central Public Library in downtown London, Ontario.

•  We usually had guest speakers presenting on a variety of topics such as humanism, science, philosophy, or history, followed by a time of discussion and an opportunity to mingle over juice and cookies.

•  Over the years we also hosted a number of larger meetings for the general public in the Wolf Performance Hall at the Central Library. These meetings featured invited speakers from our own membership or from elsewhere in Canada or the United States, speaking on topics relating to Humanism.

•  Each summer in July we held a picnic for HALA members and their families, either in the backyard of one of our members or in Springbank Park. Click here to see photos from our picnic in July, 2015.

•  In December each year we held a Winter Solstice party where we celebrated the solstice with a candle-lighting ceremony and lots of food, games, and good fellowship.

•  Each year in July we participated in the Pride Parade in downtown London, Ontario.

•  Our "mini-journal," The Enlightenment , is edited by long-time member and past president, Don Hatch. Even though HALA has ended, Don is continuing to produce new issues of the Enlightenment, which will be emailed to past HALA members and friends, and added to our archive in this website.

•  One of our long-time members, Goldwin (Goldie) Emerson, writes frequent columns relating to Humanism in the London Free Press. Although HALA has ended, Goldie plans to continue writing articles, which will be added to our archive in this website.

•   Humanist Agenda is a podcast website that was created as an offshoot of HALA. Click here to access this website and listen to podcasts of past HALA meetings and Humanism-related topics. Although HALA has ended, former HALA members Kenny Khoo and Sherry Keddie are planning to continue running Humanist Agenda and creating new podcasts on topics of relevance to Humanists.

•  The HALA Friends and Members Facebook group is a Facebook discussion group made up of past members and friends of HALA, and is also still continuing.

•  Our Humanist officiant, Dr. André Lachance, continues to be available to perform non-religious weddings, funerals, memorial services, and naming ceremonies.

•  We were affiliated with Humanist Canada, and we were registered as a non-profit charitable organization with the Canada Revenue Agency.