Scientists stage mock funeral to protest cuts to research
Scientists from across the country staged a mock funeral on Parliament Hill Tuesday to mark what they called "the death of evidence," protesting government funding cuts to basic research.
Carrying signs accusing the Harper government of a "war on knowledge," an estimated 2,000 scientists and their supporters walked through the streets of the capital behind a black casket carrying the "body of evidence."
"We are at a critical point in Canadian history," said organizer Katie Gibbs, a PhD student at the University of Ottawa. "If we don't stand up for science, nobody will."
"No science, no evidence, no truth, no democracy," they chanted as tourists and onlookers took photos of the walk, which ended on the steps at Parliament Hill.
"Between the sweeping cuts to federal science programs, the legislation changes that we saw in (the omnibus budget) Bill C-38, and the muzzling of scientists, the injuries to evidence have just been overwhelming," Gibbs told the cheering crowd.
Citing cuts to research programs in Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the National Research Council of Canada, Statistics Canada and elsewhere, the mock eulogies focused mainly on cuts to environmental research that they said would "draw an iron curtain around" the evidence of climate change.
Many pointed specifically to the decision by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to stop funding the Experimental Lakes Area next April. The ELA is a celebrated federal research facility in northwestern Ontario that the protesters claim was closed partly due to its mandate to study the long-term effects of oilsands development on freshwater systems.
One speaker applauded the government's decision to increase support for applied research, which connects scientists with industry to ensure innovation is marketable. However, he emphasized the funding "cannot be at the expense of fundamental scientific research which actually drives applied science."
Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear, in an emailed statement, said that the government's "investments are enabling Canadian scientists in universities, colleges, businesses and other organizations to help secure Canada's prosperity today and into the future."
The statement included examples of funding the government says will connect university scientists with industry to support innovation, such as $105 million over two years to support forestry innovation and market development and $37 million annually starting in 2012-13 to the granting councils to enhance their support for industry-academic research partnerships.
However, Linda Kimpe, a lab manager at the University of Ottawa who, like many protesters, was dressed in a white lab coat, told Postmedia News that university-led research cannot conduct the decades-long monitoring necessary to track long-term change.
Kimpe said taxpayers "deserve to know" what government scientists are learning so they can understand the government's policy decisions.
"How can we ever complain if we don't find out the information ourselves and actually be told the information from government scientists?" she asked. "If we don't have the knowledge, we can't make the decisions."
According to the Organization for Economic Development's most recent statistics, Canada is in the middle of the pack for government spending on research and development. In 2010, industry and government combined to spend 1.8 per cent of the country's GDP on research and development, a steady decrease from 2004 when spending was at 2.07 per cent.
In 2008, Canada ranked 21st out of 28 OECD countries based on the number of scientific researchers employed by government. Six per cent of Canada's researchers are employed by the government, as opposed to 16 per cent in Germany, 25 per cent in Hungary and 3.5 per cent in the United Kingdom. While other countries have provided numbers for 2009-2011, Canada only has numbers up to 2008.
Jules Blais, professor of biology at the University of Ottawa, said he was encouraged by the turnout on Parliament Hill. "I think what this shows is a turning point — that Canadian scientists are no longer going to stand quietly by and let the government basically destroy our ability to provide and collect evidence."
