SAC Meeting Minutes - September 21, 2018 | The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada

SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (SAC)

September 21st 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

Pierre Morin Friend of the committee, CRA (teleconference)

Norma Domey SAC member, ECC

Cathy Cheung NRC, Friend of the committee

Jean Bérubé SAC Chair, NRCan

Staff resource: Maxime Gingras, PIPSC Research Officer

Other staff in attendance:

Michael Urminsky, PIPSC Research Team Lead

Claire Hurtig, PIPSC Research Officer

Emily Watkins, Special Advisor to the PIPSC President

Call to Order & Introductions / Chair

Meeting called to order at 9:15 am;

Discussion on Agenda / All

Artificial Intelligence was added as an agenda item;
SAC membership going into 2019 was added as an agenda item;
Indigenous & traditional knowledge was added as agenda item;

Adoption of Agenda / Chair

Agenda adopted with modifications;

Approval of minutes of previous meeting / All

Modifications were flagged in the previous meeting’s minutes;
Minutes were subsequently approved as amended;

Business arising from previous meeting / All

Action items were reported on and discussed, most of them were completed by staff and committee members;
The Committee discussed the fact that in the coming review, timetables stemming from action items will have to be linked to bargaining timetables;
The Committee believes that Telework should be an issue that should be top of mind for the Institute. SAC would also recommends that bargaining deal with Flexible Work Arrangements;

NEW AI - Jean will send an email to PIPSC negotiators for SP, RE, RO-RCO & NR recommending to look at the opportunity to coordinate a common approach on Telework and Office 2.0

Reports on science activities: members

NRCan has started the implementation of Scientific Integrity and the work is progressing well;
AAFC: is experiencing staffing issues related to diversity, notably in the West;
AAFC: the rollout of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) continues. This is the latest iteration of an agricultural policy framework which is based on Federal-Provincial-Territorial partnership;
AAFC: the annual call by Science and Technology Branch for research proposals was initiated;
AAFC: is increasing the awareness of the Living Labs initiative. This initiative is expected to develop collaborative research in resiliency and sustainable agriculture;
ECCC: continues to develop a new branch called the Canada Centre for Climate Services (CCCS); a climate portal is being developed and expected to launch in the fall;
NRC’s President got a renewed term for 5 years. Senior Management has embraced the work around the model policy on Scientific Integrity. Feedback gathering is trickling down to membership;
NRC now has its own women’s committee and the agency will be hosting a workshop event alongside UBC pertaining to women’s issues in the workplace and equity;
NRC will also have a new Science Advisor;
ECCC is going ahead with over 200 new positions for science work dealing with National Wildlife;
There is a new DG at ECCC and the LMCC is has been more challenging;
ECCC is also getting a new ADM who was named this summer;
Members of the SAC attended the Women in Science event at LAC;
The work at ECCC is progressing well on Scientific Integrity;
Transport Canada has started discussing Scientific Integrity and the outcome is that management prefers to wait for Science-based departments to take on Scientific Integrity and go from there. There is a sentiment that some PIPSC members who are doing science work do not consider themselves scientists.
TC is also going to have a GBA+ analysis.

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

a) Science Integrity Policy development / Maxime

Max provided an update on feedback gathered from Consultation teams and touching base with Consultation Presidents
Departments are definitely not all on the same page nor at the same stage in consulting with the Union on their own version of the policy;
Much remains to be done in light of the implementation deadline set by the RE & SP collective agreements;
Implementation Guidelines are being developed at a pan-government working group hosted by the Office of the Chief Science Advisor (OCSA), Karen Hall and Maxime Gingras are also on the working group on behalf of PIPSC and are providing comments on the development of the guidelines;

b) Science Capacity report / Michael U.

The last time SAC discussed the results surrounding Science Capacity, there was talk about putting out a report;
PIPSC was not able to produce a full report on the issue due to staff capacity;
It was determined that a Fact sheet pertaining to the results alongside a press release would be the better way to go;
Michael U. presented the SAC with a draft copy of the Fact sheet for the committee to discuss;
The intent of the two-pager is to inform the Public on Science investments in light of the upcoming election;
The document speaks to Science spending for intramural science whether it is about RSA or R&D;
Members expressed the fact that there is a nuance between funding and outsourcing Science associated with a lack of in-house expertise being turned into glorified project managers;
The committee discussed the reality that much of the new science funding is going to Grants and Contributions to Universities;
A bigger piece of research which may be developed by PIPSC further down the line;

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

c) Government & External relations on Science / Emily Watkins

As the model policy work is going ahead, PIPSC is working on continuing that relationship;
The investments in intramural science is a strong ask which forms part of the PIPSC pre-budgetary submission;
PIPSC asked the CSA to develop metrics around Science Capacity;
There are always rumors of an early election. The work ahead is going into developing an election engagement tool focusing on four priorities: science, outsourcing, tax fairness and Phoenix.
An ideal moment for SAC to help with the PIPSC message for the election would be late Fall after the AGM;
A potential lobby could happen be in the late Fall or early in the New Year;

d) Conference Attendance initiative / Jean

Data has been gathered on conference attendance by the RE Group;
The SP Group is engaging in their own initiative to gather feedback on conference attendance twice a year;

e) Update on Women in Science / Claire/Cathy/Rob

The main work of the project was to produce a WiS report, which was completed;
The recommendations were presented at the July meeting of the Board and approved by the Board as presented;
Beyond the 2018 PIPSC AGM, there will not be a dedicated staff resource to this imitative;
There will be an engagement event at the AGM to work on re-launching the initiative. The goals will be to identify the priorities and get members involved;
There is also a possibility to link the WiS initiative with an upcoming campaign from Mobilization dealing with Parental Leave and Workplace Harassment;
SAC members expressed how taking ownership of the initiative as there has been changes both on the staff and membership sides of the initiatives;
The idea was floated that perhaps WiS could be undertaken by future Mobilization staff;
The committee discussed the need for an organic structure for WiS going forward;
Even though the last AGM WiS event was well attended, maintaining involvement and going beyond white-paper exercises;

NEW AI: 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.

New Business:

a) SAC membership 2019 / All

The membership cycle for committees is being revised;
The criteria is to try and have representatives from each regions and groups if possible;
Every year all the positions of the committee are up for potential change;

b) SAC CSPC delegation for November 2018 / All

The committee had submitted a panel submission to CSPC pertaining to the Scientific Integrity to be held alongside TBS and the CSA. The panel submission was not retained by CSPC;
The committee discussed the possibility of going to CSPC;

NEW AI: SAC recommends that PIPSC send an individual to CSPC this year to gather information and network and report back to SAC.

NEW AI: Max will be digging up information about former science symposiums put on by PIPSC and the impacts from those events.

c) Science demographic and Artificial Intelligence update / All

Max provided a written update to the committee stemming from a call held by the Deputy Minister Science and Technology Committee (DMSTC) on the initiative.
There is an opportunity for PIPSC to identify that diversity and equity is misrepresented.

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

d) How do we package a Science platform for the Federal Election / Michael U./All

A workshop will be happening at the AGM to get member buy-in and get their opinions on the work that we are doing;

NEW AI: A first draft of the presentation about Science for the AGM will be circulated by Michael U. to the SAC before it is finalized.

e) Science Strategic Plan 2019: Where are we headed? / All

An initial conversation was held on goals, objectives and activities. Specifically subject to the election of the Board of Directors;
By working on this now, this would inform a submission to the Board in Spring 2019;
Originally there were multiple objectives other than the ones flagged;
The Science Strategic Plan is cyclical in nature and a new plan will have to reflect ongoing and new realities;
SAC will have to continue its advisory role within PIPSC and insure the ownership is on the organization, staff and membership;
It would be important to involved separate employers, especially provincial ones;

NEW AI: Rob will work with Max, Jean and Michael to get the pulse of the current strategic plan and the possibilities surrounding a revised strategic plan heading into 2019.

NEW AI: SAC members will reflect on the Science Strategic Plan and will bring suggestions forward at the next SAC meeting.

f) Indigenous & traditional knowledge / All

The gathering of indigenous knowledge is starting in various departments;
This is a good initiative and is trickling down as the Government moves forward on Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples of Canada;

7. Round Table / All

Members shared a few concerns about transition to Windows 10 and how it will be problematic for their work;
A brief conversation was held on the upcoming Public Service Employee Service (PSES);

Date of next meeting (set the date in advance, bring availability) / All

Date of the next meeting is set for November 23^rd;

9. List of Action Items / All

NEW AI - Jean & Max will send an email to PIPSC negotiators for SP, RE, RO-RCO & NR recommending to look at the opportunity to coordinate a common approach on Telework and Office 2.0;