Evidence of meeting #27 for Science and Research in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was citizen.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
That's excellent.
Can you please share what activities you're going to do and reports you're going to produce this year, please, Dr. Nemer?
11:45 a.m.
Chief Science Advisor, Office of the Chief Science Advisor
We're going to put out a report on managing long COVID, the post-COVID conditions—
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
I have more questions here, so if you could please table those, that would be great.
11:45 a.m.
Chief Science Advisor, Office of the Chief Science Advisor
Okay. That's great. We can do that.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
What are the consequences if the government fails to engage with citizens when developing policies that impact them?
11:45 a.m.
Chief Science Advisor, Office of the Chief Science Advisor
First of all, the government represents the people, and the people and the government need to continue to work together towards bettering the country.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
What are the consequences of that, though, if they don't?
11:45 a.m.
Chief Science Advisor, Office of the Chief Science Advisor
If they don't, there is a loss of trust, and the loss of trust in institutions and in government can be quite costly and can erase a lot of the benefits that otherwise can accrue from all the efforts that both the government and many parts of the public actually work towards.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
Since you were appointed to the role of chief science adviser, have you ever witnessed a political decision that has gone against your scientific advice?
11:45 a.m.
Chief Science Advisor, Office of the Chief Science Advisor
I have provided advice on many things but not on all things, so it's a difficult answer, really, to give you. I can tell you that in the cases where I have provided advice, I have felt that my advice was taken into consideration.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Corey Tochor
Thank you so much, Dr. Nemer and MP Mazier.
Now we go to our newly elected MP, MP Sousa.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you very much. Thank you both for providing your presentations and information relative to this issue.
What are some fields of research in which we could actually use more support from citizen scientists, to which they're not necessarily contributing today? In other words, are there areas in which we could embellish or nurture certain aspects of what's being done? A follow-up question to that would be how you would get them involved as a result.
11:45 a.m.
Chief Scientist of Quebec, Fonds de recherche du Québec
I could start and then Mona could continue.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Mr. Chair, I'd like to share my time with MP Diab as well. Thank you.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
11:45 a.m.
Chief Scientist of Quebec, Fonds de recherche du Québec
Certainly there's everything related to sustainable development. That's a huge topic. There's a lot of interest from citizens—at least that has been our experience in Quebec—related to climate change, but this is much larger than that. On the circular economy, for example, we could use quite a bit more input from the public in cities and regions and all of that. Certainly it's an area in which we could use the knowledge but also the brains of all citizens to help scientists reach their objectives and also to help governments to reach their objectives in terms of the circular economy, for example.
Maybe Mona could add to that.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Yes, Mona, how would you invite them or how would you engage them to be part of it?
11:45 a.m.
Chief Science Advisor, Office of the Chief Science Advisor
I agree that the environmental area is very ripe for this, particularly on biodiversity. We could double our efforts there, but we could, as well, think about other areas like, for example, monitoring pollution and even monitoring how well we're doing in terms of our actions. Citizens could equip their cars or their homes with detectors that tell you how much pollution there is in the air. There are some examples of that in coastal areas.
I want to go back to agriculture, because I think agriculture is a great area in which a lot of science and knowledge has been gathered, and I think we can do a lot more there. It would have ripple effects in terms of encouraging young people to get interested in agriculture and agri-food, but also in terms of combining all these years of tradition and knowledge with modern scientific tools and possibilities.
February 2nd, 2023 / 11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal Halifax West, NS
Thank you very much to my colleague, MP Sousa.
To both our witnesses, welcome back.
It's always a pleasure to have you both here with us and to get your knowledge and expertise in these areas.
I was listening intently. For me, when I first heard the term that was brought up by Mr. Cannings, “citizen scientists”, to be honest I wasn't really sure what it meant. I'm glad we're here, and I'm glad for the information you gave us, Monsieur Quirion.
You spoke a lot about the Engagement program, which tries to combat disinformation in social media by making it possible for the public and researchers to work together. I believe that is very important.
For both of you, the question I have, and I know you have talked about this, so I will brief, is how we can get more Canadians involved in science in their communities, and what role youth can play in developing citizen science.
What can you share with us on this committee that we can work towards?
11:50 a.m.
Chief Scientist of Quebec, Fonds de recherche du Québec
I think increasing scientific literacy is a way to increase the participation of citizens in scientific research, at least one way.
The other way is to have more support, more programs and more funding for citizen science. I often prefer to call it participatory science. That may be a bit easier to understand than citizen science.
11:50 a.m.
Chief Science Advisor, Office of the Chief Science Advisor
I would say that as we encourage participation, we really need to be cognizant of vulnerable populations and those who are excluded generally. This is why starting very early on and in collaboration with schools and education allows us to make sure we don't leave anybody behind. Science is for everyone, and we need to give access to citizen science to everyone in the country as well.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Corey Tochor
Thank you so much.
Now we go to the two and a half minute round. We will go to the Bloc with MP Blanchette-Joncas.
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Nemer, I am going to continue what I was saying earlier concerning the manifesto for francophone science diplomacy. One of the themes of the manifesto, which Canada signed in November, is promoting francophone scientific publications.
I'd like to know whether your organization has considered that. Is there a plan of action in place to promote francophone scientific publications in Canada?