HARINDER MAHIL
A major survey released thisweek in Ottawa paints a disturbingpicture of government scientistswho feel they are beingmuzzled by the federal government.The survey was commissionedby the ProfessionalInstitute of the Public Serviceof Canada (PIPSC), a unionrepresenting 55, 000 professionalsworking for the governmentof Canada.According to the survey 90% ofthe government scientists indicatedthey are not allowed tospeak freely to the media aboutthe work they do and that, facedwith a departmental decisionthat could harm public health orthe environment, nearly as many(86%) would face retaliation fordoing so. Significantly, half offederal scientists (50%) reportbeing aware of actual cases inwhich the health and safety ofCanadians has been compromisedbecause of political interferencewith their scientificwork. Nearly half (48%) areaware of actual cases in whichtheir department or agency suppressedinformation, leading toincomplete, inaccurate, or misleadingimpressions by the public,regulated industry or themedia. In response to the surveyone scientist commented: “Thecurrent government is re-creatingfederal departments to servethe interests of its industry andbusiness supporters and subvertingthe science … Publicservants with a conscience livein fear [of opening] theirmouths to the media or the public….”4,069 federal scientists — out of15,398 who were invited –responded to the union-commissioned,online survey handledby the polling firmEnvironics Research. The surveywas conducted betweenJune 5 and June 19, 2013 and isconsidered accurate plus orminus 1.6%, 19 times out of 20.”Federal scientists are facing aclimate of fear,” says PIPSCpresident Gary Corbett, “- achill brought on by governmentpolicies that serve no one’sinterests, least of all those ofthe Canadian public. The safetyof our food, air, water, of hundredsof consumer and industrialproducts, and our environmentdepends on the ability offederal scientists to providecomplete, unbiased, timely andaccurate information toCanadians. Current policiesmust change to ensure theseobjectives are met.””Documenting the problem isthe essential first step towardsolving it,” added FrancescaGrifo, Senior Scientist with theUnion of Concerned Scientistsin the United States where,under the Bush administration,federal scientists faced manysimilar problems. “You can’thope to solve the issues untilyou fully understand them.”With such an overwhelmingmajority of federal scientistsstating that they do not feel freeto speak to the media abouttheir work, the Harper governmentcan no longer claim that itdoes not “muzzle” scientists.The current government’srecord on silencing public interestscience at EnvironmentCanada, the Department ofFisheries and Oceans, NaturalResources and elsewhere speaksfor itself. The federal governmentshould remove the excessivecontrols placed on the freedomof scientists to speak,especially on issues of publichealth, safety and protection ofthe environment; and strengthenand enforce current whistleblowerprovisions to ensure thatscientists are protected whenpresenting evidence that supportspublic health and protectionof the environment.Harinder Mahil is a human rightsactivist active in the Indo-Canadiancommunity. He is a director of theDr. Hari Sharma Foundation andcan be contacted at [email protected].
