The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada
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SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (SAC)

November 23rd 2018 - 9:00 a.m.

PIPSC NATIONAL OFFICE

Members in attendance:

Krishna H. Gautam     SAC member, NRCan

Robert MacDonald     Board Liaison, Transport Canada

Karen Hall SAC member, Transport Canada

John Shi SAC member, AGCAN (teleconference)

Patrick Cherneski SAC member, AGCAN (teleconference)

Richard Winder Friend of the committee, NRCan

Cathy Cheung NRC, Friend of the committee

Jean Bérubé SAC Chair, NRCan

Staff resource: Maxime Gingras, PIPSC Research Officer

Other staff in attendance:

Claire Hurtig, PIPSC Research Officer

  1. Call to Order & Introductions.........................................................................................Chair
  • Meeting called to order at 9:15 am;
  1. Discussion on Agenda ………………………………………………………………………………………………All
  • Max added three items : November 20th SI meeting, SAC owner’s manual & the iteration of a new strategic plan for Science 2020-2023;
  • Motion to adopt the agenda as amended;
  1. Chair
  • Agenda adopted with modifications;
  1. Approval of minutes of previous meeting………………………………………………………………..All
  • Modifications were flagged and the minutes were modified;
  • Some members will be sending further modifications to Max via email;
  1. Business arising from previous meeting.……………………….............................................All

Previous Action Item: Karen will send out an email to WGC on new research money in departments and how much has been allotted;

  • This was done. The feedback was practically non-existent;

Previous Action Item: Based on the Recommendations approved by the BOD, SAC is recommending that an ownership plan be put together around WiS specific to each recommendations. Claire will be taking this on before the AGM.

  • A dedicated staff person to WiS is currently in the PIPSC HR queue;

Previous Action Item: SAC recommends that PIPSC send an individual to CSPC this year to gather information and network and report back to SAC.

  • PIPSC did not attend CSPC this year;
  • If SAC believes that PISPC be present at CSPC on an annual basis as a panelist or as a delegation, SAC can put forward a request to the Board and incorporate it has part of our Strategic Plan;

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

Previous Action Item: SAC recommends that PIPSC send an individual to CSPC this year to gather information and network and report back to SAC.

  • Did not happen due to operational requirements of Research. Differed conversation to the strategic discussion to happen later in the meeting;

Previous Action Item: Karen and Max will draft a letter to the Chief Science Advisor raising concerns pertaining to occupational grouping and employment equity in Science demographics.

  • Ongoing, Karen has a letter drafted;
  1. Reports on science activities: members
  • NRCan has been making a lot of progress drafting its Scientific Integrity;
  • A  weekly call was setup with Consultation  Presidents to report on SI as the looming deadline is upon departments;
  • NRC was a sponsor and participant at CSPC, their Science Advisor and President were panelists on the progress surrounding Artificial Intelligence;
  • NRC is also getting involved in a Women in Science panel supported by NSERC and Academia, on December 3rd.
  • NRC now has its own Departmental Science Advisor (DSA);
  • Transport Canada is having issues moving forward on Scientific Integrity and consultation is an issue;
  • Transport Canada is also putting forward Professional Development;
  • Transport Canada is also engaging a CS member in Artificial Intelligence (AI);
  • NRCan held a lunch & learn on Science which was successful;
  • NRCan wants to lead on SI, there will be a push for accessibility to their SI policy;
  • NRCan is experiencing changes in reporting relationships for technicians at the ground level, there is a lot of movement in such ranks where Best Practices Guidelines are being developed by PIPSC and PSAC in Consultation with the Employer;

7. Updates on Strategic and Operational Plan for Public Sector Science for 2018-2019

a) Science Integrity Policy development…........................................................Maxime

  • Max provided an update on Scientific Integrity (SI)  to the members of the committee including a matrix which tracks the latest developments received from Consultation Presidents in all 23 Departments and Agencies (DDAA) involved in SI;
  • Weekly calls have been setup by Jean with the key members on SI from each department to take the pulse and troubleshoot issues;
  • Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is an important cluster of applied scientists, there has been no update provided on SI, this is a concern;
  • PIPSC could send a formal letter to the CSA and TBS when DDAAs will not have met the deadline;

NEW AI – SAC suggests that in January or February 2019, a staff/SAC post-mortem be undertaken to identify lessons learned & best practices from the Scientific Integrity Consultations throughout DDAAs.

b) Science Capacity ...........................................................................................Maxime

  • The one-pager was published on September 28th and had some traction in the media;
  • The results highlighted by the one-pager form part of our pre-budgetary ask on Science ;

c) Science Strategic Plan in 2019 and beyond?..................................................All

  • In light of 2019 being an extremely busy year and an Election year, there is a chance the Science Strategic Plan’s 2019 activities and plans may be overlooked;
  • There remains a full year left to the original Science Strategic Plan;
  • A draft was circulated which is aimed at discussing the main points for 2019 which could make it into a new 2020-2023 Science Strategic Plan;
  • 2017-2019 Plan Evaluation;
  • Year 3 Focus or Plan Extension or Plan Amendment;
  • Plan inputs;
  • Plan Schedule;
  • Plan Components;

d) Government Science Monitoring………………………………………………………………Maxime

  • Nothing to report;
  • There are reports that ENGs who are increasingly doing science work;

e) Government & External relations on Science……………………………………………Maxime

  • A lobby day is being planned during winter 2019, SAC’s input will most likely be sought after;
  • This is in light of Budget 2019-2020 and the 2019 Election;

f) Conference Attendance initiative……………………………………………………………..Jean/Maxime

  • An SP conference attendance survey was sent out and is currently in analysis;
  • The Conference attendance issue is part of the language being proposed at the RE bargaining table;
  • Conference attendance is also one of the main Guidelines pertaining to Scientific Integrity;

g) Update on Women in Science (WiS) …………………………………………………………….…... Claire

  • Two WiS events were held at the PIPSC AGM : WiS breakfast and WiS Luncheon;
  • Claire is leaving the Institute and a new individual will be appointed to the file;
  • Once the new staff person is appointed to the WiS file will be transferred;

NEW SAC – Current members of SAC will review the one-pager on the PIPSC/SAC Science Strategic Plan one pager Next Steps 2020-2023. Comments are to be sent to the SAC email address by December 1st 2018;

8. New Business

 A) Science demographics: update……………………………………………………………………….All

  • The S&T ADM Integration Board, where the Science demographics initiative was being discussed, as changed and is now known as Deputy Minister Science Committee (DMSC);
  • An update was provided at DMSC on science demographics on November 15th, but staff could not attend due to a conflict of schedule;

B) Support to Scientific Integrity Implementation (DDAA policies).....………………..All

  • The work on SI goes beyond the December 31st deadline regarding the implementation phase where consultation teams do not yet understand that developing their SI policy is only the beginning;
  • The SI policies will not become real until they are implemented and this will take some time with no dates set for implementation;

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.

C) SAC owner’s manual…………………………………………………………………Richard Winder

  • Revisions flagged in June were addressed;
  • A new version of the SAC’s owner’s manual should be undertaken on a yearly basis;

NEW 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;

D) SI Workshop November 20th meeting…………………………………………………………………………………All

  • Max gave notes to the committee concerning the SI workshop which took place at the Institute on Governance, where the CSA staff and Max helped debunk concerns and interpretation issues pertaining to the SI model alongside Departmental HR representatives;

E) SAC 2018: year in review/next iteration of SAC ……………………………………………………..…..All

  • 2019 will be the last year of the current strategic plan, where the committee will be facing a crossroad between the former plan and a new plan;
  • The Strategic Plan was the source of making the committee move forward;
  • There are many challenges ahead as issues arise and how SAC is working on breaking some silos at PIPSC and building advocacy advice;
  • Current members hope that the next iteration of SAC follows in the footsteps of what was achieved this year;
  • Some members of the committee still are not clear of the actual mandate and acknowledge the work of the strategic plan;
  • The committee still has to be responsive to new issues and the committee need to be informed;
  • There are emerging opportunities and challenges to get in the media or raise awareness and visibility;
  • The committee needs to improve on its communication with Groups, WGC, AC, the Office of the President & external stakeholders;

9. List of action items:

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

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

NEW SAC – Current members of SAC will review the one-pager on the PIPSC/SAC Science Strategic Plan Next Steps 2020-2023. Comments are to be sent to the SAC email address by December 1st 2018;

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.

NEW 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;

10. Round Table ……………………………….………….……………………………………………………………………….…..All

  • Next WGC is on January 30th, an update on SI and the Implementation Guidelines will be needed;
  • SAC members are pleased with the progress made this year;

11. Closing comments & Adjournment.........................................................................................Chair

  • Member held a roundtable for final comments;
  • Meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM

 

 

Published on 30 August 2019