Canada
jdupuis | April 16, 2013Since I work at York University, I'm going to refrain from commenting on this lawsuit. However, as is my practice I'll be creating and maintaining a list of relevant articles and resources here to help me stay current on the matter.
I am not attempting to create a comprehensive list.
General
Statement of Claim against York University by Access Copyright
Monday,April 8, 2013: Canada's writers and publisherstake a stand against damaging interpretations of fair dealing by the education sector (Access Copyright press release)
Access Copyright Interim Post-Secondary Educational Institutions…
jdupuis | March 22, 2013You would think that such apple pie issues as public science, basic research and the free and open exchange of scientific information would be hard to disagree with. You would think that a resolution in the Canadian parliament would to such effect would meet with resounding support, resulting in a unanimous vote, the room resounding with shouted Yays.
You would think that anyone who would vote nay to such a resolution would be a virtual pariah in an open democratic society, a society that values an informed citizenry and evidence-based decision making.
Apparently you would be wrong.…
jdupuis | October 15, 2012C. Scott Findlay, associate professor of biology at the University of Ottawa and a visiting research scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, had a sobering article in the Toronto Star a few days ago.
It's titled Governing in the dark: Ottawa’s dangerous unscientific revolution and it fits right in with my recent seemingly endless catalogue of how the current Canadian Conservative government is systematically undermining the free inquiry in Canada, scientific and otherwise. In the article Findlay first lays out some of the recent abuses and then gives four reasons why Canadians…
jdupuis | September 29, 2012This past Thursday evening I was honoured to attend the awards ceremony for the 2011 Lane Anderson Award which celebrates the best science writing in Canada.
The winners were announced at the end of the evening. This is from the press release, which doesn't seem to be online yet:
Toronto. 2thth September, 2012: The two winners of the 2011 Lane Anderson Award were announced today by Hollister Doll and Sharon Fitzhenry, Directors of the Fitzhenry Family Foundation, at an intimate dinner in Toronto. The annual Lane Anderson Award honours two jury-selected books, in the categories of adult and…
jdupuis | September 27, 2012The current Conservative government of Canada isn't too fond of Canadians having access to information. It's inconvenient for them because I guess a well-informed citizenry would be more likely to call them on the various shenanigans they've been indulging in.
A good general take on the situation is Allan Gregg's recent speech, 1984 in 2012 – The Assault on Reason:
I have spent my entire professional life as a researcher, dedicated to understanding the relationship between cause and effect. And I have to tell you, I’ve begun to see some troubling trends. It seems as though our government’s…
jdupuis | August 28, 2012I saw an article in the Quill and Quire announcing the shortlist for the Lane Anderson Award, celebrating the best in Canadian science writing.
The Lane Anderson Award honours the very best science writing in Canada today, both in the adult and young-reader categories. Each award will be determined on the relevance of its content to the importance of science in today’s world, and the author’s ability to connect the topic to the interests of the general trade reader.”
The annual Lane Anderson Award honours two jury-selected books, in the categories of adult and young-reader, published in the…
jdupuis | June 4, 2012Apologies to my loyal readers for the rather inside-baseball library and Canadian politics focus of my recent posts, but that unfortunately is where I'm at right now. It will probably continue for a least a little bit.
Onward.
The Canadian Library Association held its annual conference in Ottawa last week and one of the highlights was certainly a keynote by Daniel Caron, the head of the Library and Archives Canada. Which has been quite controversial recently in Canadian library circles due to the drastic cuts going on.
According to reports on Twitter, the keynote itself wasn't too…
jdupuis | May 25, 2012I've been posting quite a bit recently on the disastrous record of the current Conservative government here in Canada, especially in regards to how they treat information, science and the environment. Sadly, I have way too many posts in the works along these lines.
The other day a post I saw on the Deciphering Science blog that really blew me away. It perfectly captures every important detail about the Harper government and their total contempt for science and disregard for the environment.
And with the author's kind permission I'm reposting it here, from May 18, 2012: An Open Letter to the…
jdupuis | May 17, 2012My union, the Library chapter of The York University Faculty Association (YUFA) has released a couple of open letters to The Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages in the current Canadian government.
The letters protest the current cuts to staff and programs at Library and Archives Canada. The letters do sketch out the context but you can read more here, here and here.
I completely support these letters. You can consider them to be related to my series on the Canadian War on Science, perhaps under the title of The Canadian War on Library and Archives. In…
jdupuis | May 3, 2012The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression has just awarded the Harper Conservative government here in Canada a failing grade in promoting free expression.
Federal scientists' freedom of expression: F
Canada's control over the communications of federally funded scientists is alarming. Climate change science coverage in the media has plummeted by 80 per cent since 200, drastically reducing information available to Canadians. Some scientists have been denied permission to talk to the media about their research even after it was published in peer-reviewed journals.
Not to mention that the…
jdupuis | April 27, 2012David Suzuki is a icon for the Canadian environmental movement. He's like our Al Gore and Rachel Carson all rolled up into one. I read and reviewed his memoirs a while back and they are terrific.
When he talks, sensible people listen.
This blog post by Suzuki and Ian Hanington hit my in box this morning: Environmental rules should be better, not easier
Few people would argue against making environmental review processes and regulations more efficient -- as long as they're effective. But changes announced in the recent federal budget don't do that. Instead, they make it easier for the federal…
jdupuis | March 20, 2012Knowledge, science, information, common sense, openness?
A whole bunch of things are under attack by various conservatively-minded levels of government here in Canada.
Those of you thinking of moving north to avoid the insanity might want to have a second thought.
It seems that we normally smug and superior Canadians have recently...
Walked away from statistically valid methods of collecting census data
The head of Statistics Canada has delivered an extraordinary rebuke to the Harper government over its plan to scrap the mandatory long-form census, quitting his post in a highly public letter…
jdupuis | November 1, 2011It's a big day here at York University, especially for us science & engineering types both within the Faculty of Science and Engineering and those of us who support their teaching and research missions. There's a big announcement about the coming expansion of our engineering programs to include many of the more traditional streams, such as electrical and others.
The details are being announced today at a news conference at 1pm. I'll be there livetweeting as will others, I imagine.
There was a first announcement a little while back about some government money that was being committed.…
jdupuis | August 22, 2011It's a very sad day today all across Canada as Jack Layton, leader of the Federal NDP and Leader of the Official Opposition, has died of cancer.
A widely respected career politician -- a rarity these days -- his passion for social justice and commitment to the people of Canada will be greatly missed.
His family released A letter to Canadians which, while very focused on Canada and Canadian politics, is also very relevant beyond our borders.
To young Canadians:...As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world…
eklemetti | June 28, 2010After last week's attempt to revive Mystery Volcano Photo - and the discovery (by me, thanks to you readers) of Tin Eye - I've had to ponder how to continue. Well, I think the best thing to do is to try using reader images that hopefully aren't hiding out on the web somewhere. So, that is what we'll try ...
As for MVP #20, the answer was, indeed, Edziza in Canada (congrats to Stephen). Edziza is an eroded composite stratovolcano that last erupted ~950 AD (+/- 1,000 years ... !) The volcano has erupted basalts to more felsic magmas, many of which were subglacial eruptions.
The current…
terrasig | May 14, 2010Dichloroacetate or DCA is a small molecule that has been in the press over the last four years due to its potential to inhibit aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells. The cells from each of us usually produce energy in the form of ATP from a variety of nutrient sources plus oxygen using a very efficient process called oxidative phosphorylation. However, when oxygen is partly depleted, such as in skeletal muscle when exercising strenuously ("going anerobic"), energy is produced from glucose by a far less efficient process called glycolysis. Glycolysis is the most primitive form of cellular…
terrasig | April 7, 2010I'm delighted to see those $32/article access fees going to good use: Nature is accepting nominations to recognize two outstanding research mentors in Canada with cash prizes.
Since they were launched in 2005, Nature's awards for mentoring in science have rewarded outstanding research mentors in Britain, Germany, Japan, Australia and South Africa. The competition is held within one country each year, in the belief that mentoring reflects not just notions of good scientific practice and creativity that are universal, but also scientific traditions and cultures that are, at least to a degree,…
terrasig | November 28, 2009As we mentioned earlier this week, a brouhaha has erupted north of the border (or just a bit east for our Detroit-area colleagues) whereby graduates of Canada's two naturopathy schools may be given drug prescribing rights by the Ontario legislature. Editor-in-chief of the Skeptic North blog, Steve Thoms, put up this detailed background in "Fake Doctors with Real Drugs," at the JREF Swift blog:
Bill 179 was introduced in the spring of this year as a way of expanding scope-of-practice for health care professionals in Ontario, including (but not limited to) nurses, midwives, pharmacists and…
terrasig | November 26, 2009
Two weeks ago, Canadian Skeptics United published on their Skeptic North site a piece by an Ontario pharmacist criticizing a proposal by the province to grant limited prescribing rights to naturopaths. The essay, which was reprinted in the National Post on Tuesday, outlines the intellectual and practical conundrum presented by allowing those with education that diverges from science-based practices to prescribe drugs.
The naturopath lobby has come out in force and appears to be relatively unopposed in the 54 comments that follow, primarily because the NP closes comments 24 hours after online…