The Canadian government in recent years has banned government scientists from talking about a growing list of research topics, including snowflakes, the ozone layer, salmon and previously published work about a 13,000-year-old flood.
Now it seems the scientists are talking back.
Researchers in 16 Canadian cities have called for protests on Monday against science policies introduced under the government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which include rules barring government researchers from talking about their own work with journalists and, in some cases, even fellow researchers.
“There is a lot of concern in Canada right now about government scientists not being allowed to speak about their research to the public because of the new communications policies being put into place,” said Katie Gibbs, director of a new group, Evidence for Democracy, which is organizing the protests.
The rallies to be held on university campuses and central locations in the cities of Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, as well as other places, will be the second set of protests in a year by government scientists against the Harper government’s science policies.
Like last year, protesters have been asked to wear white laboratory coats on Monday.
Critics say the policies run counter to the open-access policies in place for government scientists in the US and Europe.
“It isn’t the way science is supposed to be. It’s not the way science used to be, the way I remember it in the federal government,” said John Stone, a retired Environment Canada scientist now working as a vice chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
This year, Canada’s department of fisheries and oceans released a new set of rules barring scientists from discussing their findings with the public or publishing in academic journals.
The new guidelines require all scientists to submit papers to a departmental manager for review — even after they had been accepted for publication by an academic journal.
The proposed rules became public earlier this year after US scientists on a joint US-Canadian project in the eastern Arctic took exception to them.
Last year, National Research Council scientists were barred from discussing their work with NASA on snowflakes with journalists. Other government scientists have been barred from giving interviews on work published in leading academic journals.
In other instances, the federal government has been accused of burying or delaying publication of government science reports thought to contain politically damaging data.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
RSS