SAC Meeting Minutes - March 25, 2019

1. Call to Order & Introductions / Chair

• Meeting called to order at 9:20 am;
• The committee held roundtable introductions, there were many new individuals around the table;

2. Purpose of SAC / Chair/ Norma

• A document was circulated by the Chair pertaining to the role of SAC and where it stands within the PIPSC structure;
• A discussion was held regarding how SAC has become instrumental as an advisory body for the Institute;
• Max gave some background information pertaining to SAC’s work in recent years;
• The Board liaison gave the committee examples of how SAC and Public Science at PIPSC can be advocated for in various fora, including Regional councils;

3. Roles & Responsibilities of SAC members / Chair/Norma

• Max gave some background information pertaining to SAC’s work in recent years;
• Norma gave a quick note to the committee as to how to reach the SAC page on the PIPSC website;

4. Discussion on Agenda / All

• Members voiced that Artificial Intelligence should be added as a new item of discussion. Approved by the committee;
• A discussion was held pertaining to the various Google accounts being used by PIPSC for members in light of the continued use of @pipsc.ca email accounts;
• Max asked for flexibility regarding staff resources throughout the day, where we might jump ahead in the agenda from time to time;

NEW Action item: Norma will be asking the Board for an update on the transition to Google email accounts from @pipsc.ca accounts and how this will affect the committee;

5. Approval of minutes of previous meeting / All

• Modifications were flagged and the minutes were modified;
• Max will review the minutes one last time, they will then be sent to translation & web posting;
• The committee noted that the website states today’s meeting is the 2^nd SAC meeting of the year, Max will ask Marielle to rectify this;

NEW Action item: Norma will be asking the Board to get a better access to the SAC website from the PIPSC home page.

NEW Action item: Max will get the previous meeting’s minutes and get them translated;

6. Business arising from previous meeting / All

PREVIOUS AI – SAC to consider a more strategic approach around sponsoring CSPC and make a funding request around our presence there next year;

• Norma, Jean, Max & Emily Watkins, will be meeting today to discuss this matter and what the approach will be;

PREVIOUS AI: Karen and Max will draft a letter to the CSA raising concerns around occupational grouping and employment equity surrounding Science demographics.

• This work is ongoing;
• Karen has a letter drafted but it has not been revised

PREVIOUS AI – Karen and Jean will write a letter to the PIPSC President highlighting further need for Policy work from PIPSC staff as Departments move towards the implementation phase of SI. The need for a dedicated staff resource fully available dedicated to SI and other policy work supporting various levels of PIPSC is becoming obvious.

• This work is ongoing;
• Karen has a letter drafted;
• Max gave an update on this request to the SAC;

PREVIOUS AI – Max to complete the gaps of the SAC owner’s manual and make sure it is distributed to all members of SAC 2019 and keep updating it as an evergreen document;

• Recommendations from new members of SAC Owner’s manual revolve around dating the document so information is not lost and updating the document through time.  The document will not be posted on the PIPSC website.

7. Reports on science activities: members

• NRCan has put forward an FAQ regarding Scientific Integrity;
• NRC concluded their SI policy;
• NRC’s Women in Science committee is meeting regularly;
• NRC is also actively working on Open Science;
• AAFC is dealing with funding issues whereby clusters are determining where money is allotted. Administrative burden persists on scientists;
• AGCan is finding evidence of varying climate change data. Staffing issues are also occurring.
• Norma, within her capacity as full-time VP will be involved in all things Science at PIPSC;
• Successful lunch and learns have been occurring at DFO;

8. Presentation of the 2016-19 PIPSC Science Strategic plan to new member / Chair/Max/Norma

• We presented the current strategic plan to the SAC membership and how the activity areas on Science tied in to Strategic and Immediate objectives set out by the plan, all tied in to PIPSC’s goals set out by the Board;

9. Updates on Strategic and Operational Plan for Public Sector Science for 2019

a) Science Integrity Policy development & Implementation / Maxime

• Max distributed a status of Scientific integrity matrix;
• Policy development is slow in some departments and no grievances on the deadlines were put forward by PIPSC;
• 7 departments are still lagging behind for various reasons;

NEW AI – Karen and Jean will write a letter to the PIPSC President highlighting further need for Policy work from PIPSC staff as Departments move towards the implementation phase of SI. The need for a dedicated staff resource fully available dedicated to SI and other policy work supporting various levels of PIPSC is becoming obvious. Deadline for this letter to be sent is April 20^th 2019.

b) Government & External relations on Science / Emily Watkins

• A discussion pertaining to PIPSC and the upcoming Federal election was discussed at lunch;

c) Conference Attendance initiative / Jean/Max

• The SP group is gathering further conference attendance data by delivering another survey to the membership to take the pulse of the progress made over time;

d) Update on Women in Science  / Max

• Yvonne James has been appointed as a dedicated Research Officer  to Women in Science as of March 2019;
• Max looked at Budget 2019-20 with the women in science lense. Students receiving federal research grants will now be able to benefit from parental leave under EI. Also Federal granting councils will be able to expand parental leave coverage from 6 to 12 month for fellows and post-docs.

10. New Business

a)  Artificial Intelligence

• Michael Urminsky gave a brief on PIPSC research’s take on Artificial intelligence;
• Unions in Canada are behind on this issue;
• Research work will be undertaken to first get to the effects of AI on Skills;
• AI is already being used in Government and will be increasingly used;
• The Liberal Government has pumped millions on AI through three clusters and there have not been studies pertaining to the social impacts of this work;
• This will eventually become a bargaining issue in the future and affect Tech change articles;

b) Process for adoption of a new Strategic plan for 2020-2023 / Chair/All

• The presentation phase of the new strategic plan would be ideally take place in September;
• SAC will require to base its objectives and activities built around the Goals set out by the PIPSC Board of directors;
• Contingency will have to be taken into consideration in drafting the plan and putting it forward to the Board based in various outcomes of the Election;

NEW Action item: Norma will gather new PIPSC goals set out by the BOD and bring them forward to the next SAC meeting for input into the adoption of the new Science Strategic Plan.

c) Federal Budget 2019-2020: what’s in it for Science? / Maxime

• Max distributed a matrix crafted in light of Budget 2019-20 announcements;
• Members provided feedback, details and edits;

d) CSPC participation & panel submission deadline / Maxime

• A meeting was held with Emily Watkins pertaining to involvement at CSPC;
• A panel proposal will be put forward by Max to CSPC the outcome of which should be received by June;
• If the outcome of a CSPC panel is not successful the committee will look at other options to participate and if a participation is required.

New Action item: Max will submit a panel by April 15th

        e) Date of next meetings / All

• A doodle survey will be sent to the SAC membership

List of action items:

NEW Action item: Norma will be asking the Board for an update on the transition to Google email accounts from @pipsc.ca accounts and how this will affect;

NEW Action item: Norma will be asking the Board to get a better access to the SAC website from the PIPSC home page.

NEW Action item: Max will get the previous meeting’s minutes and get them translated;

NEW AI – Karen and Jean will write a letter to the PIPSC President highlighting further need for Policy work from PIPSC staff as Departments move towards the implementation phase of SI. The need for a dedicated staff resource fully available dedicated to SI and other policy work supporting various levels of PIPSC is becoming obvious. Deadline for this letter to be sent is April 20^th 2019.

NEW Action item: Norma will gather new PIPSC goals set out by the BOD and bring them forward to the next SAC meeting for input into the adoption of the new Science Strategic Plan.

New Action item: Max will submit a CSPC panel by April 15th

11. Closing comments & Adjournment / Chair

• Meeting adjourned at 4:07 PM

Notes:
1) SAC webpage: http://www.pipsc.ca/portal/page/portal/website/issues/science