AN END TO THE SECRECY?
Science adviser will spill the beans
Canada’s new chief science adviser is worried. Our country spends billions of dollars on research, and many people believe that what our scientists discover is just debatable opinion.
Now Mona Nemer, an Ottawa heart researcher, has the job of sorting out the best evidence on public science issues — from climate to pandemics to astronomy — and telling the prime minister and cabinet.
She says she’ll make her advice to the government public, as long as it doesn’t violate national security.
“As it stands now, the idea is to provide an annual report on everything that we have done,” she said in an interview Thursday.
Where the government asks for particular advice — for instance, it might ask how to prepare for a pandemic — “if we have looked at it and we have advice, then we will make it public before the year end.”
Science is a broad domain, and she sees herself consulting experts in each field that comes up. But since she was also vice-president of research at the University of Ottawa, Nemer said she has wide experience outside medicine.
“The first thing I’m going to do is reach out to the experts” when matters outside her field come up, she said. “I expect collaboration with everything.”
Still, there’s that nagging problem of science literacy. Nemer said it’s “distressing” that people believe scientific evidence isn’t solid, and issues such as climate change or the origins of disease are just debatable opinions.
“We have close to half the public who doesn’t believe in science, who think it is opinion or propaganda or things like that. I think that is pretty worrisome,” she said.
“The way to help this is to engage in a better conversation with the public, between scientists, science communicators and the public. It’s not a matter of giving lectures like (teaching) Biology 601, but synthesizing and putting this in a form that helps the public understand.
“I think that we need to develop a better dialogue and better ways of exciting the youth about science.”
It upsets her to see the lack of understanding about science.
“Honestly, it’s distressing to me because it’s almost like throwing us back to the Middle Ages, when people thought that the sun rotates around the Earth.
“The vaccine paper with everybody thinking there was a link between vaccine and autism — it was withdrawn. It was clear that it was fabrication. But people still believe them. It’s a problem.”
Nemer said she doesn’t believe her job will be heavily influenced by political pressures.
She said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “has told me he wants to have the scientific and evidencebased (information), and not to worry about the politics.”
Nemer already has the support of one of Canada’s most prominent biologists.
“I can’t think of a better choice,” said John Smol of Queen’s University, who won the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal, the top research prize in Canada, in 2005.
“She has an outstanding record as a scientist (and) so would have the respect of scientists.
“She has a remarkable record as a multi-tasker — with a long record of science administration coupled with being a scientist.”