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Our Team

We are deeply committed to supporting grassroots Humanist activity, advancing Humanist education and increasing Humanist visibility through our national presence and online communications.

Humanist Canada is the operating name of the Humanist Association of Canada. We are a registered charitable organization.

Board of Directors

Martin Frith

Martin Frith

President

Martin has been a member of Humanist Canada since 1986 and an Officiant since 2002. He has long-been an advocate for civic and social engagement and believes that connecting with others, on the local, national and international level, is essential. His goal is to see Humanist Canada grow in membership and national influence and continue to be agents of change representing the ideals of reason, science, humanism and progress. He lives in Toronto, has a private practice in relationship counselling, grief and bereavement and is an active recreational athlete.

Ric Glowienka

Ric Glowienka

Vice-President

Ric joined Humanist Canada in 2016, became a Humanist Officiant in 2017 and joined the Humanist Canada board in 2019. The son of refugees, Ric came to Canada in 1957. A fascination with computing, Ric has spent 40 years working with organizations around the world, implementing leading-edge systems that prepare them for the information age we live in today. Ric has assisted companies such as Ford, Intel, and NASA and cities like New York, Boston, and Baltimore in leveraging technology to improve their efficiencies and meet evolving customer needs. Ric is a believer in life-long learning. His goal is to refocus Humanist Canada’s message and mission so more Canadian Humanists following their values will be compelled to join the organization. He lives in Ottawa and enjoys travel, music, art and architecture, and cycling the bike paths of the nation’s capital.

Jack Adams

Jack Adams

Treasurer

Jack Adams is a champion of Humanist Canada’s movement towards a governance model for the Board. Jack is a Chartered Professional Accountant from Saskatchewan and brought his financial knowledge when he joined the board in 2022.

Alex Howard

Alex Howard

Member

Alex Howard is an Accredited Family Mediator, Divorce Coach and Conflict Resolution Specialist and Humanist Canada Officiant. She has the pleasure of marrying Ontarian's and supporting them with premarital classes and communication support. Alex lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.

Bryan Causarno

Bryan Causarno

Member

Bryan Causarno is an Officiant and Apple Instructor in Kitchener, Ontario. He is cofounder of Grand River Pride and a long time member of Humanist Canada. He is motivated by the desire to grow our membership, deepen connections with increased programming and raise the public profile of our organization.

Donna Harris

Donna Harris

Member

Donna Harris is a lifelong Winnipeger. She has a Master’s Degree in English Literature and is employed by the Manitoba Lotteries Foundation in the Human Resources Division. Donna has always seen herself as a true Canadian mixture – Indigenous and Metis on her mother’s side, and English and Scottish on her father’s. Some of each, but not truly belonging to either. The residential school that her mother attended robbed her of any Indigenous culture or heritage that might have been passed down. Learning more about this heritage as an adult has made Indigenous issues extremely important to her, especially considering the impact of that damage and trauma on most Indigenous Canadians.

Lee Burton

Lee Burton

Member

Lee Burton is currently Director, of Philanthropic Services with MakeWay, where she works with some of the most progressive philanthropists in the country to advance community-led change, in pursuit of justice and equanimity. As a queer-identifying woman, Lee leverages her privilege to invite voices forward.

Maureen Bulbrook

Maureen Bulbrook

Member

Maureen Bulbrook, a Haudenosaunee Ago:nhgweh, has committed her legal career to creating change for children. She is the the Indigenous Counsel for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer. In this position, she has been supervising the OCL Indigenous child files, assisting in the decolonizing of people’s mindsets, and creating awareness of Indigenous perspectives and on-going realities.

Sassan Sanei

Sassan Sanei

Member

Sassan has been a Humanist ever since learning at young age that an egalitarian society must, by its very nature, be both secular and inclusive. He joined Humanist Canada in 2014 and performs bilingual Humanist ceremonies as an Officiant in southern Ontario. He is publicly active to spread awareness of Humanism, the importance of ceremonies in our lives, and the freedom in Ontario to be married by an Officiant of your choice. An electrical engineer, Sassan is also the father of two children, a lifelong student of language and literature and an accomplished photographer.

Staff

Bettianne Hedges

Bettianne Hedges

Executive Director

Bettianne Hedges has a Degree in Philosophy, a certificate in Not-For-Profit Governance from the Rotman School of Business/Institute of Corporate Directors, and a Certificate in teaching adults/course design from the University of Calgary. Her work in the not-for-profit sector has included governance roles with the Ontario Trillium Foundation, United Way, Real Estate Council of Ontario, and several visual arts organizations. She is now President of the University Women’s Club - Stratford, a group that advocates for women and girls. In addition, she is an active business professional, college facilitator, and a Humanist Officiant. Bettianne is ‘Grandma B’ to two toddlers, an art collector focusing on Canadian ceramics, and has just launched into her 2023 goal to see every piece of theatre Stratford, her home, will offer this season.

Anna Popovitch, PhD

Program Director

Anna joined Humanist Canada in 2019. She is an independent scholar specializing in comparative intellectual history and social theory with a focus on Latin America and Europe. Anna holds a PhD from Columbia University and has taught, conducted research, and published in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Before joining Humanist Canada, she was Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Social Studies at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she piloted an interdisciplinary core curriculum program in gender studies and co-developed an oral history project in an autonomous indigenous community. Anna brings 15 years of experience in teaching, mentoring, research, curriculum and program development. In her current role at Humanist Canada, she is in charge of educational programming and leads the development of a Public Humanities program that foregrounds the importance of the humanities for public life and self-enrichment through lifelong learning.

Luis-Enrique Arrazola

Luis-Enrique Arrazola

Social Media Coordinator

Luis-Enrique Arrazola is a writer, editor, and communications specialist working at the intersection of art, culture, design, technology, and wellness. As the founder of Sissy Studio, they’ve worked with leading global creative institutions, including Design Miami/, Pace, and Serpentine Galleries, as well as luminary creatives such as Hans Ulrich Obrist and Virgil Abloh. Their editorial work has appeared in the National Post and FASHION magazine. They are a dreamer of matriarchal utopias and are deeply fascinated by archaeology, goddess spirituality, nature, paganism, and the unconscious.

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