Canadian government is 'muzzling its scientists'

[Bagor]

Not really new news but good to see it getting a bit of media attention. Is this the sort of behaviour one would expect from a free western country? Stifle select research and drip feed information as it suits current or proposed policy. A great lesson in transparency.

VANCOUVER — For almost three weeks after David Tarasick published findings about one of the largest ozone holes ever discovered above the Arctic, the federal scientist was barred from breathing a word about it to the media. Kristi Miller was similarly gagged from granting interviews about her own research into a virus that might be killing British Columbia's wild sockeye salmon, despite going to print in the prestigious journal Science.
Such incidents aren't one-off occurrences, but instead represent a trend of "muzzling" policies being imposed on Canadian scientists by federal agencies under the Conservative government, a panel told their international peers Friday at a global science conference in Vancouver.
"It's pretty clear that for federal scientists, Ottawa decides now if the researchers can talk, what they can talk about and when they can say it," senior science journalist Margaret Munro, with Postmedia News, told a group gathered at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/SciTech/20...ntists-120217/

VANCOUVER — Groups representing scientists and science writers sent an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday calling on his government to stop "muzzling" federal researchers.
The release of the letter coincided with a panel discussion at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual conference, which heard numerous examples of alleged government interference and reporters being denied timely access to scientists.
Such control is sinking morale among scientists and denying the public access to important information about climate, agriculture and the environment, the conference heard.
"Why are we suppressing really good news to Canadians — that is, successful science being done in federal government labs?" asked Andrew Weaver, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria. "Why don't we open it up? There's nothing to be feared but success."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States recently adopted a policy that encourages its scientists to talk freely to the media without an intermediary.
Under the new policy, scientists are allowed to express their own opinions, on the condition they make it clear that they are not speaking on behalf of the agency.
The letter addressed to the prime minister Friday urged the government to take a similar approach.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...398/story.html

The response ...

In an email, spokesman Jay Jacobson said the government's communications policy is designed to ensure that "interviews or technical information on specialized subjects, are directed to knowledgeable managers or staff designated to speak as official representatives."

In other words ... control the information.

So why should any of this matter?
If the Canadian media protocol for government scientists is seen to be effective in preventing ministerial surprises then governments across the world will want to follow the same procedures.
That, some argue, would act as a brake on the culture of debate that is necessary to develop effective evidence-based policies.
Government agencies exist to serve the public good and usually do. In theory, if they believe that an area of public policy is going badly wrong and have the evidence to prove it, they say so.
In the past, this has worked well, as with the impact of lead in fuel on child development, the causes and effects of climate change and - more recently - the harmful effects of excessive dietary salt on human health.
Science advisers can act as an independent voice within government to identify and challenge bad practice.
For research results to change policy, government scientists need direct access to the public in order to explain the policy implications of their work through the news media.
Without that, it would be tempting for governments to ignore research results that do not suit them.
The public understanding of science empowers individuals, enables an informed debate from which policy changes can spring - benefiting society.
Stifling the free flow of information about research findings might reduce ministerial embarrassment. But for the sake of good governance, it might be better if there were a few more surprises for ministers in the news media.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16881087

I've no problems with information being suppressed if it's in the interest of security but when it comes to controlling (written questions and responses) or refusing interviews by scientists for the public domain simply because their findings goes against official policy then it is as one scientist put it ... Orwellian and (IMO) undemocratic.

[SebC]

[Barnet Flame]

At present, this is the most read page on bbc.co.uk:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16861468

[photon]

The stuff is published in journals so it's not like it's secret.

[zuluking]

Originally Posted by photon

The stuff is published in journals so it's not like it's secret.

Not sexy enough. No awesome soundbites.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by photon

The stuff is published in journals so it's not like it's secret.

Agreed, and my intention wasn't to suggest a manner of secracy, moreso one of highlighting lack of media access to the authors for the purposes of explaining their research in more lay person terms for individual informed decision making. More of a suppression of information for the public domain when it goes against policy.

[photon]

Sorry, I totally agree, I meant that it's not secret which makes Harper appear crazy.

I can understand keeping results secret and telling scientists not to talk about it.

Telling them they can't talk about publicly available results is a whole different level of crazy

[LIP MAN]

This isn't far off the muzzling at NASA that was widespread. Changing specific wording in reporting, for example, completely changed the context of official climate reporting.

"The December 3 GAO report was triggered after the space agencys Inspector General found last year that between 2004 and 2006, the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalized, or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general public, including barring researchers from speaking with the media and downgrading news releases, which often spur press pickup, to Web features, the IG report found. (One downgraded news release was fuzzily titled, Earth Gets a Warm Feeling All Over.)"

http://reporting.sunlightfoundation....es-publicizin/

[Codes]

Harper is just plain bad for science.

[Canada 02]

a blessing in disguise. The mainstream media are awful at reporting science discoveries

[Jake]

I actually went to a presentation by Kristi Miller at UBC before the Christmas holidays. She didn't even bring this up. One driving force behind her research is to further understand why wild salmon stock population fluctuate. That way in the future it may be possible to predict collapses/booms before they happen so scientists can provide better management recommendations for the fishery. The discovery of the virus was actually a coincidence as she wasn't looking for one.

So, to me, it is not clear at all why the federal government "muzzled" her. Her research was very important and it seems like it would benefit everyone.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Jake

So, to me, it is not clear at all why the federal government "muzzled" her. Her research was very important and it seems like it would benefit everyone.

From the second link in OP.

The office said at the time that it was concerned Miller's comments could influence an ongoing judicial inquiry into declines of Fraser River sockeye salmon.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/...398/story.html

Looks like there was a denial spin operating from salmon farmers and the feds regarding that the virus didn't exist in BC.

An interesting read from the inquiry where she shares fears about her 25 years of samples being confiscated by DFO and intimidation by DFO and CFIA (bolded for emphasis).

First off, Dr. Miller helped clarify the baffling claims coming from both the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and BC Salmon Farmers’ Association that “ISA is not in BC.” Given the number of positive test results from the world’s top labs, the certainty with which the Harper Government and its fish farming pals have claimed the disease is not here has puzzled many in the media and conservation community. Well, Miller cleared up the confusion in her testimony, explaining the sneaky linguistic trick these folks have been leaning on in making these boasts.....

....The fact is Miller is running what could be termed as a super-lab out of the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo. Because of the wealth of fish samples she has to draw on, dating back 25 years, and the sophistication of her equipment and methods, she’s able to process enormous volumes of tests and data compared to the other labs (several hundred tests a day compared to as little a 6 tests a week for some of the others).

Another key point Miller made on the stand was the fear she harboured of having all her years of samples confiscated by the CFIA, as the agency did to SFU professor Rick Routledge after his sockeye samples form Rivers Inlet came back positive for ISAv earlier this year – the catalyst, in fact, for the re-opening of the Cohen Commission. Miller indicated she felt intimidated by DFO managers and the CFIA from the strongly implied threat that they could storm into her lab and take away this enormously valuable genetic bank she oversees. “I was very concerned that that would be one threat that if the samples I’m working on were classified as ISA that I would lose the samples that are important for my genomics program,” she told the Inquiry.

It is thanks to this wealth of material that Miller was able to establish that ISAv has likely been here in BC at least since 1986 – as she was able to test livers from sockeye that date back that far and find evidence of the virus, which came as another shock amid the day’s proceedings.

http://thecanadian.org/k2/item/1222-...n-salmon-virus

[Codes]

Certainly not an unfounded fear. The CFIA confiscated a library of samples from the research lab I work in. Though I think this may have been political at the CFIA level rather than any Harper derived mandate.

However, financially we are starting to feel the effects of the Conservative government. Environment Canada has seen massive funding cuts, and it seems that the CFIA and PHAC are now in their sights.

[Ashartus]

I've run into this issue several times. I've actually had conference presentations etc. where I've worked with government scientists but they've asked to have their names left off it because otherwise it would have to go through the Prime Minister's Office and approval would be almost impossible to get - and nothing I've been working on is particularly contentious or political.

Of course a lot of those same scientists are likely to be laid off soon - one group I work with had their budget cut by 40%, with another 20% to come, and human resources has been sending around lots of memos on how to deal with career changes.

I know of an Environment Canada scientist who was nearing the end of a multi-year experiment related to oil sands effluents - in the middle of the night her lab was locked up and the power shut off, ending the experiment and ensuring they couldn't get their data. Ice cores used to evaluate climate change were left to melt when the facility they were kept in was shut down. Both of those cases would likely have had results that didn't support the Conservative ideology of course.

Overall not a good time to be doing science for the government. But the best way to stay in power is to keep people ignorant.

[Flash Walken]

Red Hot Fata:

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=107692

(kidding, discuss).

[rubecube]

"When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent...is frankly when it is rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.”

- Stephen Harper

[Flash Walken]

Bump!

http://www.canada.com/news/national/6500175/story.html

Government media minders are being dispatched to an international polar conference in Montreal to monitor and record what Environment Canada scientists say to reporters.

The scientists will present the latest findings on everything from seabirds to Arctic ice and Environment Canada’s media office plans to intervene when the media approaches the researchers, Postmedia News has learned.

Media instructions, which are being described as a heavy-handed attempt to muzzle and intimidate the scientists, have been sent to the Environment Canada researchers attending the International Polar Year conference that started on Sunday and runs all week.

“If you are approached by the media, ask them for their business card and tell them that you will get back to them with a time for (an) interview,” the Environment Canada scientists were told by email late last week.

“Send a message to your media relations contact and they will organize the interview. They will most probably be with you during the interview to assist and record,” says the email obtained by Postmedia News.

The memo, signed by Kristina Fickes, an Environment Canada senior communications adviser, goes on to say that recordings of interviews are to be forwarded to the department’s media relations headquarters in Ottawa. Fickes signs off with a signature tagline that says: "Let the sun shine in "