Canadian Scientists Are Rallying Against the Government’s War on Science

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Canadian Scientists Are Rallying Against the Government’s War on Science

Lately, the Canadian government has been getting on the wrong side of the scientific community—what with their research budget cuts, poor environmental policies and Big Brother-level monitoring on scientists' interactions with the media. These...

Lately, the Canadian government has been getting on the wrong side of the scientific community—what with their research budget cuts, poor environmental policies and Big Brother-level monitoring on scientists' interactions with the media. These restrictive, anti-research policies have turned Stephen Harper’s government into the number one enemy of the scientific community.

All of this tension came to a head in Toronto yesterday afternoon when about 250 people, many of them donning white lab coats, descended on Queen's Park to voice their disapproval in the sort of calm, organized rally you'd expect from a crowd made up of brainiacs with science degrees. The event, organized by the University of Toronto Faculty Association, University of Toronto Graduate Students Union (UTGSU), and citizen collective Scientists For the Right to Know, was part of a day of rallies in cities across Canada dubbed “Stand Up for Science.” The nation-wide effort was put together by not-for-profit Canadian organization Evidence for Democracy (E4D), who advocates for the government to make decisions based on sound science instead of “ideology or political convenience” and is against cuts to science funding and research censorship.

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“The science in Canada is the lifeblood for the nation and it has been very difficult to find that this has been choked… We are not funding basic science to the degree that we used to,” president of Scientists For the Right to Know Margrit Eichler said. Eichler, a former sociology and equity professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, added that she hoped the rally would bring the issue to forefront of Canadian politics.

“We want this to be an election issue,” she said.

The rally kicked off just after noon, by anti-Harper protest fixtures the Toronto Raging Grannies, who sang a song decrying the Conservative government's politics. After a series of speeches from organizers and a message read on behalf of John Polanyi, the only living Canadian Nobel Prize winner, the group, made up of scientists, professors, students and self-described “concerned citizens” peacefully marched south down University Avenue chanting slogans like “Stand up for science!” and “What do we want? Basic research funding! When do we want it? Now!” while carrying signs and banners. Maybe not have been the catchiest slogan but, point taken.

Environmental chemistry PhD student Emma Mungall said she marched because, as a scientist and someone concerned about climate change, she couldn't stand to sit around idly as the government muzzled scientists and swept away inconvenient truths.

“Seeing Harper decimate Environmental Canada and the entire infrastructure of environmental science in Canada… It's this whole idea of scientists telling people what they want to believe. No one wants there to be terrible pollution, no one wants there to be rapid climate change that is going to cause a lot of problems, but these things need to be talked about,” Mungall said. “They need to be acted on now.”

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The Canadian government can't say they don't deserve the growing internal and international backlash that's been gradually building. The Tories have been steadily chipping away at scientific advancement since they got their minority government in 2006, getting rid of the Office of the National Science Advisor (intended to offer expert scientific advice to the Prime Minister) and cutting five percent of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's 2012 budget. They've also given Canada a bad rap on the environmental front, steadily nudging funds usually used for environmental research into studying the economy instead, pulling Canada out of the Kyoto Protocol, removing 98 per cent of lakes and rivers from protection against urban development and promoting Alberta's oil sands, a big Canadian money-maker, despite the pollution they cause.

“There's a growing trend in government to ignore evidence and basically proceed on the basis of ideology as opposed to evidence… There's a growing trend of research and funding deficit,” University of Toronto biochemistry professor John Glover said. “I personally know a lot of excellent scientists who are having very difficult time having their research funded. And I think this is a result of possibly having governments that… ignore science in favour of ideology.”

Even the scientists themselves are on lockdown. Federally-funded scientists not allowed to speak to the press, no matter how mundane the subject, without explicit permission from the Prime Minister’s office—if they do, they face suspension without pay or could even be fired. Foreign scientists doing joint research with Canadian scientists are forced to sign non-disclosure agreements. Infamously, during the 2012 International Polar Year conference in Montreal, media handlers followed Environment Canada researchers around recording what they said to journalists.

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And it's not only the “hard sciences” that have taken a blow—the social sciences have taken just as hard a hit. The federal government's elimination of the long-form census in 2010 left sociologists with data gaps for certain Canadian demographics, particularly for low-income communities, small towns and new immigrants, three groups who are unlikely to complete the now voluntary survey because of lack of interest or low English comprehension skills. Librarians and historians are also reeling from 215 job cuts at Library and Archives Canada, which is responsible for collecting Canadian documents and making the records accessible to the public.

“It's very troubling,” a librarian who did not want to be named said as she marched. “Closing down libraries is the first step to erasing and distorting history.”

The demonstrators walked until Elm Street, where they turned around and made their way back to Queen's Park. In a closing speech, Eichler thanked attendees for “taking a stand,” and promised more rallies would be coming before the end of the year.

Internal commissioner for the UTGSU and third-year history of education master's student Brad Evoy said he was happy with the turnout, and that it showed Canadians want something different from what the federal government does.

“I think our point came across fairly well,” Evoy said.  “Folks wish to see a return to evidence-based policy and funding for basic science that underlies all the policy and the kind of decisions that we need to make in this country.” Previously:

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Jackie Hong

Jackie Hong

Jackie Hong

Jackie Hong

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Jackie Hong

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