Censorship is alive and well in Canada – just ask government scientists

Freedom to Read Week begins on Feb. 24, bringing with it the perfect opportunity to kick the tires of democracy and make sure the old jalopys still running as she should.

Whats that you say? The bumper fell off when you touched it? The engine wont turn over? Thats not so good. Better look under the hood.

We like to think of censorship as something that happens over there, in the faraway places where men break into houses at night to smash computers, or arrive in classrooms to remove books they dont like. Not in lovely, calm, respectful Canada. Here we dont necessarily notice freedoms being eroded slowly, grain by grain, like sands through the hourglass, if youll allow me to quote from Days of Our Lives.

Just ask Canadas government scientists. Oh wait, you cant ask them, because theyve got duct tape over their mouths (metaphorical duct tape, but hey its still painful). This week the University of Victorias Environmental Law Clinic and Democracy Watch asked federal Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault to investigate claims that scientists are being prohibited from speaking freely with journalists and through them, the public.

In a report called Muzzling Civil Servants: A Threat to Democracy, the UVic researchers present some chilling findings: Scientists are either told not to speak to journalists or to spout a chewed-over party line, rubber-stamped by their PR masters; the restrictions are particularly tight when a journalist is seeking information about research relating to climate change or the tar sands; Environment Canada scientists require approval from the Privy Council Office before speaking publicly on sensitive topics such as climate change or protection of polar bear and caribou.

You wouldnt want the average citizen to learn too much about caribou, now. Who knows how crazy he could get with that kind of information? It could lead to panel discussions about Arctic hares, town halls on ptarmigans. The report states that government scientists are frustrated, which is hardly surprising. Its like hiring Sandy Koufax and never letting him pitch.

The other thing that the report makes clear is how deliberate this strategy is: The federal government has recently made concerted efforts to prevent the media and through them, the general public from speaking to government scientists, and this, in turn, impoverishes the public debate on issues of significant national concern.

This is not an issue thats going away. The Harper governments heavy-handed control of scientists research has raised concerns across the world for a few years, including condemnation from such bastions of Marxism as Nature magazine.

A couple thousand scientists from across the country marched on Parliament Hill last July to protest cuts in research (many in the highly sensitive area of environment and climate change) and restrictions on their ability to speak freely about their work. They created what might be the best chant in the history of political protest: What do we want? Science! When do we want it? After peer review!

Last week, Margaret Munro of Postmedia News reported that a University of Delaware scientist was up in arms over a new confidentiality agreement brought in by Canadas Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Im not signing it, Andreas Muenchow told the reporter. What does this mean for bilateral co-operation on research? Nothing good, thats for sure.

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Censorship is alive and well in Canada – just ask government scientists