Rally: Stand Up for Science
Sept. 16, 2013, from 12-1 pm
In Toronto, we will assemble at 11:45 at the south part of Queen’s Park in the front of the legislature: there will be a few short speeches. Prof. Scott Prudham, President of the UofT Faculty Association will speak, we will hear a message from Nobel Prize winner Prof. John Polanyi, 3rd speaker TBA. We will march down University Ave. and back to Queen’s Park. The Raging Grannies will sing.
About Scientists for the Right to Know
In 2012, a Working Group of Science for Peace started to look into the muzzling of science and scientists in Canada. Muzzling is a broad process that may be carried out by governments, industry, universities, and others. However, we quickly realized that the current federal government is actually waging a war on basic science. While other Canadian governments have engaged in muzzling as well, we have never witnessed the type of systematic attack on basic science that is happening right now in Canada.
We therefore decided to focus at present on the muzzling of science on the part of the federal government. We also decided that we needed to find a means to engage the public at large. The focus of our work shifted, then, from researching the issue to advocating for unmuzzled science. It became clear that the work the group was envisaging would exceed the mandate of Science for Peace - education. We decided to form a new organization frankly devoted to advocacy.
The inaugural meeting of Scientists for the Right to Know took place in April 2013. We are currently in the process of incorporating as a non-profit organization. Scientists for the Right to Know has been endorsed by the Canadian Federation of Students and by the Canadian Association for Professional Academic Librarians and by OCUFA (see below).
We therefore decided to focus at present on the muzzling of science on the part of the federal government. We also decided that we needed to find a means to engage the public at large. The focus of our work shifted, then, from researching the issue to advocating for unmuzzled science. It became clear that the work the group was envisaging would exceed the mandate of Science for Peace - education. We decided to form a new organization frankly devoted to advocacy.
The inaugural meeting of Scientists for the Right to Know took place in April 2013. We are currently in the process of incorporating as a non-profit organization. Scientists for the Right to Know has been endorsed by the Canadian Federation of Students and by the Canadian Association for Professional Academic Librarians and by OCUFA (see below).
by admin • academic freedom, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, CAPAL, LAC - Library and Archives Canada, Library and Archives Canada (LAC), Scientists' Right to Know, University of Toronto
Researchers at the University of Toronto have formed a new group in response to continuing government action on the freedom of information in Canada. The group called Scientists’ for the Right to Know states their mandate is “ to advocate for the free conduct, communication, publication and archiving of research and to resist the muzzling of science and of scientists.”
The Canadian Association for Professional Academic Librarians fully endorses and supports the SRK mandate. As CAPAL has stipulated in the document Academic Librarianship: A Statement of Principles we fully endorse eradicating discrimination, free enquiry and advancement of knowledge, uncensored and unbiased access to information and preserving knowledge for current and future generations. We urge all our colleagues across Canada to show their support for the efforts of this group. http://scientistsfortherighttoknow.wildapricot.org/timeline Of particular interest is their timeline which shows the extent to which suppression of freedom of speech and information has been happening in different areas.
The Canadian Association for Professional Academic Librarians fully endorses and supports the SRK mandate. As CAPAL has stipulated in the document Academic Librarianship: A Statement of Principles we fully endorse eradicating discrimination, free enquiry and advancement of knowledge, uncensored and unbiased access to information and preserving knowledge for current and future generations. We urge all our colleagues across Canada to show their support for the efforts of this group. http://scientistsfortherighttoknow.wildapricot.org/timeline Of particular interest is their timeline which shows the extent to which suppression of freedom of speech and information has been happening in different areas.
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