About Gary

Current Status:
  • Free lance writer and editor
Recent Publications:
  • April 2016 (book),The Right to Die: Courageous Canadians Who Helped Overturn the Prohibition on Assisted Suicide, James Lorimer and Co., Toronto
  • October 2015 (book), Travels with Shakespeare, Dragonfly Design, Victoria, BC.
  • September 2015 (book), A Search for Better University Education, Experiment at Malaspina, Friesen Press, Victoria, BC.
  • Autumn 2015 (magazine article), “Mercy and Canadian Law – The Prohibition of Assisted Suicide,” Humanist Perspectives
  • August 2014 (book) Voices of Humanism, Rocketday Arts, Victoria, BC.
  • December 14, 2013 (newspaper op-ed article), “When the Justice System leads to Injustice,” Victoria Times Colonist.
  • October 2013 (book), The Secret Power of Juries, James Lorimer and Co., Toronto
  • Summer 2012 (web site), “Ethics, Euthanasia and Canadian Law”, ethics-euthanasia.ca October 2010 (book), Robert Latimer, A Story of Justice and Mercy, James Lorimer and Co., Toronto.
Employment:
  • 2003-2008: Editor, Humanist Perspectives (formerly Humanist in Canada)
  • 1996-1998: CEO of new Provincial Agency, Centre for Curriculum, Transfer and Technology, Victoria, BC.
  • 1994-1996: Director, Centre for Curriculum and Professional Development Victoria, BC.
  • 1990-1994: Vice-President, Instruction and Planning, Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC, with particular responsibility for developing new degree programs.
  • 1986-1990: Vice-President of Instruction, Malaspina College, Nanaimo, BC.
  • 1974-1986: Dean of Instruction, Malaspina College, Nanaimo, BC.
  • 1972-1974: Dean of Arts and Science, College of New Caledonia, Prince George, BC.
  • 1970-1972: Chair, University Transfer Division, College of New Caledonia, Prince George, BC.
  • 1969-1970: Instructor, Chemistry, College of New Caledonia, Prince George, BC.
  • 1968-1969: Teaching Post-doctoral Fellow, University of Western Ontario, London, Ont.
  • 1966-1968: Assistant Professor, Chenistry, Bishop’s University, Lennoxville, Quebec.
  • 1964-1966: Lecturer, Chemistry, Bishop’s University, Lennoxville, Quebec.
Education:
  • 1961-1965: PhD, Organic Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.
  • 1957-1961: BSc, Honours Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec.
Earlier Publications:
  • December 2009 (web magazine), “Piling On: The Robert Latimer Case,” Tolerance.ca
  • Jan/Feb 2008 (magazine article), “One Large Defeat for Science in Canada,” Skeptical Inquirer
  • 2008 (chapter in book, Universities at Risk), “Intelligent Design and SSHRC: An Embarrassment for Science in Canada” (with Patrick Walden and Brian Alters), James Lorimer and Co. Ltd., Toronto
  • Spring 2008 (magazine editorial and special report), “Robert Latimer and the Justice System,” Humanist Perspectives
  • Summer 2007 (magazine editorial and special report), “When Trusted Sources of Information Go Wrong,” Humanist Perspectives
  • Autumn 2006 (magazine article), “Robert Latimer and the Sanctity of Compassion,” Humanist Perspectives
  • Summer 2006 (magazine article), “SSHRC – We have a Problem,” Humanist Perspectives
  • Spring 2006 (magazine report), “My Stardust Memory” (Humanist Perspectives)
  • Winter 2005/06 (magazine editorial and special report), “One Nation Under Fraud,” Humanist Perspectives – nominated for a Western Magazine Award
  • Spring 2005 (magazine article), “The Trial of Evelyn Martens,” Humanist in Canada
  • 2003 – 2008, Editorials in magazine Humanist Perspectives (formerly Humanist in Canada):
  • – Summer 2008 Pernicious Identities
    – Winter 2007/08 Constructive Humanism
    – Autumn 2007 Humanism and Forgiveness
    – Spring 2007 The War on Science and Reason
    – Winter 2006/07 Reforming Undergraduate Education
    – Autumn 2006 Belief and Humanism
    – Summer 2006 What Humanists Care About
    – Spring 2006 Dark Deeds in Africa . . . and Elsewhere

  • Autumn 2005 The Willing Suspension of Belief
  • – Summer 2005 Information and Personal Autonomy
    – Spring 2005 Unfinished Business
    – Winter 2004/05 Science and Conscience
    – Autumn 2004 Reason over Passion
    – Summer 2004 Popular Culture
    – Spring 2004 Problems with Certainty
    – Winter 2003/04 Metaphorical Language
    – Autumn 2003 Ends, Means and Slippery Slopes

  • December 2000 (article in periodical), “The Tyranny of Excellence,” University Affairs
  • 2000 (report for Forest Renewal BC), “From Worker Learning to Transformation of an Industry”
  • 1998 – 2001, Op-ed articles in the Vancouver Sun
  • – November 7, 2001 Bless America, but leave God out!
    – September 3, 2001 BC squanders opportunities
    – February 14, 2001 Perils of technology
    – December 4, 2000 A delicate balance
    – October 10, 2000 Brutality and cheating in sports
    – September 5, 2000 Believe in God to be President
    – July 1, 2000 Super-rich Allen plays a sour chord
    – April 6, 2000 Whither the wetlands
    – March 15, 2000 The wedding bell blues
    – February 2, 2000 Keep schools open for all
    – November 6, 1999 The trendy fraud infecting academe
    – June 22, 1999 Practical skills of a rural life
    – June 11, 1999 We missed a constitutional debate
    – May 5, 1999 Reforming general education
    – January 13, 1999 Ranking our schools
    – December 2, 1998 A diminutive paradigm-buster
    – October 31, 1998 Dr. Lauratollah: rough justice

  • 1997/98 , Editorials in the Learning Quarterly:
  • – February 1997 Outcomes-Based Education
    – May 1997 Educational Technology
    – September 1997 Prior Learning Assessment
    – December 1997 General Education
    – March 1998 On the Usefulness of Education
    – June 1998 Knowledge and Belief

  • 1996 (BC government report), “The Learning Outcomes approach to Post-Secondary Education” (with Bo Hansen)
  • 1992 (BC government report), “Undergraduate Education in BC: Choices for the Future”
  • May 1992 (magazine article), “Choose Our Leaders by Random Selection,” Policy Options
  • December 1987 (article in periodical), “Psi and the Unwilling Suspension of Belief,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences
  • November 1986 (magazine article), “Ethics in Professional Sports,” The Humanist (USA)
  • Spring 1986 (magazine article), “Authority and Moral Leadership,” Humanist in Canada
  • Autumn 1984 (magazine article), “Education and Perceptions of Beauty,” Humanist in Canada
  • Spring 1984 (magazine article), “Going to Disneyland,” Humanist in Canada
  • 1981 (essay in book) “Science, Intuition, and ESP,” Paranormal Borderlands of Science, Prometheus Books, Buffalo NY
  • Winter 1979/80 (article in periodical) “Science, Intuition and ESP” Skeptical Inquirer
  • May 1976 (article in periodical), “Experimentation and the Decline of Education in North America,” Transcript (UK)
  • 1971 – 1978, Series of 13 articles in The Caledonian
  • 1960’s and 70’s, Scientific papers, in Nature, Canadian Journal of Chemistry, and Organic Synthesis