Minutes of the SAC meeting - June 23, 2017 | The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada

SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (SAC)

June 23rd, 2017 - 9:00 a.m.

PIPSC NATIONAL OFFICE

Members in attendance:

Jean Bérubé SAC President, NRcan

Michael A. Forbes SAC member, Retired, Environment and Climate Change Canada

Karen Hall SAC member, Transport Canada

Richard Winder SAC member, NRCan

Susan O`Donnell SAC member, National Research Council

Norma Domey SAC member, Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre

Philip A. Blagden Friend of the Committee, Health Canada

Robert MacDonald Board Liaison, Transport Canada

Staff resource: Maxime Gingras, PIPSC Research Officer

Staff in attendance:

Catherine Wright, PIPSC Labour Relations Associate

Michael Urminsky, PIPSC Research Lead

1. Call to Order - Chair

Meeting called to order at 9:02 AM

2. Discussion on Agenda - All

The meeting will need to be adjourned by 3:30 PM due to members having to fly out early.
Items may be moved around based on PIPSC staff availability.

3. Adoption of Agenda - Chair

Agenda adopted.

4. Approval of minutes of previous meeting - All

A few modifications were flagged. Minutes were subsequently approved.

NEW (AI) – Max to get April 3^rd approved minutes translated and posted on the PIPSC website.

5. Business arising from previous meeting - All

Max went through the actions items and reported back to the committee. All but one have been completed. That particular item fell off the priority list for PIPSC.
Robert will prepare a PowerPoint presentation for SAC members to present at their respective Stewart council in the fall.

6. Reports on science activities: members

SAC Members were involved by reporting back to their Regional Council on the committee’s activities.
RE Group is going forward with a grievance on Conference Attendance, which could have important repercussions if it gets resolved.
Members participated in the March for Science, which was a success.
Members also got funding from PIPSC Mobilization’s Better Together for the March for Science in Vancouver and made sure members got involved.
One member went to Transport Canada’s National Union Management Consultation Committee and loaded it with Science matters for the first time.
Members have been getting approached about Science Integrity at working-groups on consultation and by members wanting more information as to how SI will work.
The NRC has been having good meetings with its membership where SI is gathering interest and momentum.
According to members, Conference attendance is also hitting walls at Health Canada. SAC could get science members at an Environmental Science Conference in Ottawa in the fall of 2018.
Predatory publications have also been an issue; DGs make the call as to what is considered “predatory” and what is not, instead of scientists, who would be in a better position to make the call.
Members reported back on SAC activities at the NCR Regional Council. SAC activities were also reported on at the SP NCR subgroup as well as the SP AGM.

7. Reports on science activities: staff

a) Update on Women in Science - Catherine Wright

Monthly email updates are being sent.
Membership engagement has been fairly low but those involved have been actively contributing
Once we have clear issues identified, specific plans are in place which we believe will raise the level of engagement; this will likely happen when we have the gender analysis completed of the Science Survey and can start drafting the Women in Science report.
There is the National Women’s Committee at the Canadian Space Agency.
Members expressed views about key female activists being outside of the union loop. This is something which could be tapped into.
A pilot project could be to approach members at large to gain more momentum.
There was a discussion about a gender issue when it comes to progression of BI-02, who are in majority women.
Future Staffing and Succession planning could an issue.
The plan involves a meeting at the Fall AGM.
Perhaps a staff member and active members could attend the International Women’s Conference.

NEW (AI) – SAC is asking the Women in Science initiative to forward staff and member names to attend the International Women’s Conference in Montreal in November. Michael will look into the staff side and Rob will take care of the member side.

b) Science Membership Survey progress - Michael

There have been issues getting through to NRC members due to an IT glitch. The issue is currently being looked into.
At least, 2 750 responses were collected.
Over the summer, the data will be broken down and analyzed.
There may be multiple reports stemming from the results: 1) Women in Science update ; 2) update on muzzling; & 3) Science capacity Science capacity.
The idea would be to have the reports ready for the fall.
A basic overview of the survey results could be provided to the Board in August.

NEW (AI) – The survey results will be tied back to the Strategic Science Plan in a presentation to the Board in August. A plan on the communication of the reports will then be presented. (Michael & Rob)

c) State of Government Science Monitoring - Maxime

Members discussed how the information could get communicated when matters of importance emerge for the union.
Sustainable development strategies containing targets on public science activities were raised as areas of interest.
CIPA is also another report which should be looked into.
Pre-budgetary consultations should be looked at. Michael added that Ryan Campbell is working on developing demands and a strategy on Science for the next round of pre-budgetary submissions.
IB presentations should be added to the policy cycle.
The changes to the four major laws and the recommendations following can be looked into :
1. Canadian environmental assessment Act;
2. Fisheries Act;
3. National oceans protection Act;
4. National Energy Board Act;
5. Species At Risk Act;
Each department has HR strategic plans regarding science population which could be ATIP’d and take a case study approach.

d) Development of Departmental Scientific Integrity policies - Michael

The PIPSC President Debi Daviau and Michael Urminsky gave a high level presentation of Science Integrity to SBDA DMs earlier in June, which was well received.
DFO and the NRC spoke very positively of the language.
Policies will have to be developed and presented to departments with at least 10 SP and RE for implementation.
On July 4^th and 5th, PIPSC is set to develop its model content of a Scientific Integrity policy.
In August, around the 9^th and 10^th, a bigger meeting is being considered with E4D and the Union of Concerned Scientists is being considered.
By the fall, an understanding on the model with SBDA’s should be reached.
There may be an issue with bringing in the Working Groups on Consultations as most Consultation presidents and stewards involved in consultation are not members of the SP and RE groups affected. An exemption may be needed as well as training.
In 2018, departmental level conversations will happen.

NEW (AI) - Each consultation team would need to appoint a scientist to represent PIPSC to work with their management on the Science Integrity policy at the departmental level.

NEW (AI) – A message will be sent to consultation teams explaining SI, what was agreed to and where to steer these queries.

e) Conference Attendance initiative - Jean

Set for the next round of bargaining, the RE group needs more data.
There is a conference attendance website being developed by the RE group for scientists to participate in. It is currently in translation and will be released subsequently.
Members expressed the need to bring this up at the joint union-management table.

NEW (AI) – Jean to share website information and link with SAC members for consultation team members to be able to share these in their respective departments.

8. New Business

a) How is PIPSC communicating its internal process on SI policy development? - Robert

A lot of work is coming down the pipe. There was a query about who is doing the communication of SI as members are starting to ask questions.
PIPSC research and communications should put together a one-pager.
There is a challenge with members being dispersed outside the NCR amongst groups and departments.
We will need to identify our message, our targets and our objectives.
If questions come up in the meantime, members should notify Michael Urminsky.

NEW (AI) – PIPSC will craft a message for consultation presidents in communicating what is being done, what the dates are, basic information to members, opportunities to get involved and what the points of contact are. (Michael)

b) Missing report from the information Commissioner on the Muzzling of Scientist … Richard/All

An opinion article came out on Suzanne Legault’s report on muzzling. A complaint was made to the Information Commissioner to know if muzzling was occurring and what the legalities around it were.
A report was supposed to come out and nothing ever happened.
Was there political interference preventing the report, what is it legal?

NEW (AI) – Max to ATIP Information Commissioner’s Office on the report concerning the muzzling of scientist.

c) Privy Council Office’s Innovation Hub – OECD Public Service Innovation review……Maxime

The Privy Council Office's Innovation Hub commissioned the OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation to undertake a review of the innovation system of the federal Public Service of Canada.
As part of the review process, the OECD heard from public servants about what they think the state of Innovation is in the Public Service (PS). The first round of interviews is now over and Phase Two is set to identify common themes throughout the PS.
PIPSC met in person with PCO’s Director of operations in order to discuss Science input from our members.
The PCO has agreed to hear comments and suggestions from PIPSC scientists on Innovation in the Public Service.
SAC members expressed interest in meeting with the OECD team; a memo has been prepared by PIPSC and will be sent to volunteers. Volunteer’s names to be submitted to PCO.

d) Science Lobby day: Fall 2017 - Rob/All

The committee is tasked to come up with with 3 sets of dates which would consist of one day of training and one day on the Hill.
Who are the key MPs we want to speak with?
Subsequently lobbying would continue in the regions in 2018 with the key MPs activists have met with.
Is SAC looking to lobby during CSPC?
SAC will let the delegation do its work at CSPC. SAC will then focus on the day of training followed by a lobby day on Parliament Hill with a subsequent lobby in the regions.

NEW (AI) Rob will follow-up on the science lobby-day initiative

e) CSPC 2017: E4D & PIPSC panel on Science Integrity - Maxime

PIPSC and E4D’s submission for a panel on Science Integrity at CSPC 2017 has been accepted by the organization.
The speakers have been confirmed and can now be found on CSPC’s website.
The panel will be informative and is not intended to make splash as the format of CSPC is inclusive and is set to inform and stimulate discussion between different science sectors. This is not a political event.
SAC could be consulted on the main points of discussion in the fall.

7. Round Table - All

Members discussed that IT, infrastructure and administrative burdens are obstructing scientists work and capacity to do science.
The government says it is doing science, but not really on public service science. Money is being spent on infrastructure.
At the March for Science, members from the committee encountered other members from separate employers; those members expressed frustration that they were not invited to get involved.
NRC may have an MOU with Shared Services Canada in order to get some old servers back.
Pay issues regarding member expectations at the NRC could prove to be a long term issue which will need to be addressed.
Re-organization is ongoing at the National Wildlife Centre.

8. Date of next meeting - All

Marielle Nadon will be looking to book meetings on September 18^th or October 2^nd 2017.

9. List of Action Items - All

NEW (AI) – Max to get April 3^rd approved minutes translated and posted on the PIPSC website.

NEW (AI) – SAC is asking the Women in Science initiative to forward staff and members name to attend the International Women’s Conference in Montreal in November. Michael will look into the staff side and Rob will take care of the member side.

NEW (AI) - Each consultation team would need to appoint a scientist to represent PIPSC to work with their management on the Science Integrity policy at the departmental level.

NEW (AI) – A message will be sent to consultation teams explaining SI, what was agreed to and where to steer these queries.

NEW (AI) – Conference Attendance: Jean to share the website information and link with SAC members and consultation team members.

NEW (AI) – Max to ATIP Information Commissioner’s Office on the report concerning the muzzling of scientist.

NEW (AI) Rob will follow-up on the science lobby-day initiative

10. Closing comments & Adjournment - Chair

Meeting adjourned at 3:45 PM.

Notes: 1) SAC webpage: