SAC Meeting Minutes - March 1, 2024

Present:

Regret:

Norma Domey - SP - Chair & Board Liaison

Ira Hill - SP - Member

Lawrence Mak - NRC - RORCO - Member

Violina Lozeva-Thomas - SP - Friend of the Committee

Lionel Siniyunguruza - Staff Support

Coralie Leduc - Staff Support

Virtual:

Julie Bourque - CFIA - Member

Matthew MacLeod - RE - Member

Ho Yin (Stanley) Poon - RE - Friend of the Committee

Najat Benbouta - SP - Friend of the Committee

Terri D’Souza - CFIA - Member

Tina MacDonald - Windsor Regional Hospital Radiation Therapists - Member

Dongfang Yang - NRC - RORCO - Friend of the Committee

Lingbo Li - SP - Friend of the Committee

Alebachew Demoz - RE - Friend of the Committee

Guests:

Randall (William) Ridgway - Observer

Daryoush Emadi - Observer

Research Officer - Research Team

David Tang - 2023 SAC member

1. Call to Order & Introductions

Members and friends of the 2024 SAC introduce themselves and provide an overview of their professional background and how they can contribute to the committee.
 

2. Discussion and Adoption of Agenda

The agenda is adopted by consensus with the following changes:

• Discussion of IRAP privatization added under agenda item #9 “New Business”.
   

3. Purpose of the SAC

The committee reads the SAC’s Terms of Reference and consults the 2018 SAC Owner’s Manual, taking note of updates to be made.
 

The following goals are set for 2024:

• The committee would like to connect more frequently with the consultation teams and prioritize the matter of funding in science. SAC members should participate in meetings with the consultation teams and talk with stewards as much as possible.
• To efficiently identify and resolve major issues faced by our scientists, improving the communication between the SAC and PIPSC members is primordial.
• The committee should always strive to increase its visibility and accountability with the membership. As representatives of their regions, committee members should modify the Chair’s reports as needed and submit them to their respective executive and regional councils.
• Ensure that SAC activities are highlighted in various AGMs and member-oriented events, including the PIPSC yearly AGM.
• The committee would also like to improve its processes, documents, and file management as necessary. 
  • Ex/ Updating the SAC Owner’s manual to current EDIA terminology and saving regional reports in the shared drive.
• The SAC is to continue to organize focal point meetings and participate in them as much as possible because the erosion of scientific integrity also erodes the bargaining power of our scientists.
   

4. Roles & Responsibilities of all Committee Members

Meeting frequency, roles, and responsibilities in the SAC Owner’s Manual are consulted.

The rules of attendance for this year are updated to reflect the maximum of 6 committee meetings. Members and friends of the committee are to attend as much as possible, as participation in this committee is competitive and the chair wants to ensure the retention of active and eager individuals. More than two unexplained absences could lead to the removal of a member or friend from the committee.

After every SAC meeting, The chair will submit a report to the board once the committee has reviewed it.

SAC members should connect with the scientific integrity lead of their department or agency. Members should suggest themselves as SI liaisons if this lead is not engaged.
 

5. Review of the November 13, 2023, SAC Meeting

The minutes from the November 13, 2023 SAC meeting are reviewed. Business from this meeting concerned the SAC preparations for the 2023 PIPSC AGM and did not have action items relevant for 2024. However, the committee would like to retract the request to be added to the Focal Points/Scientific Integrity and the Women in Science newsletter.
 

6. Business arising from previous meeting

The committee is to continue gathering stories from PIPSC scientists. This project is critical, and the committee is to reach out and interview those who have submitted their stories.

The 2023 SAC had also started to prepare a science symposium event for the summer of 2024. The 2024 committee, however, would like to prioritize its role as an advisory committee to the board and let the Institute organize such an event.
 

7. Regional Reports on Science Activities: Members

As regional representatives, SAC members should modify Norma’s report to the board according to important events or issues in their region and forward them to their regional directors. The list of regional directors and their contact information is available here.

Members and friends should also note essential meetings and dates in their region, such as Regional Council Meetings, and request to attend and promote the SAC’s activities whenever possible. PIPSC’s calendar of activities should be consulted to find important meeting dates.

The committee would like to know what is working well for its scientists, what are some challenges, what could be improved, and if there are any particular pain points for our members. To obtain the best summary of important science  issues and events occurring in each region, committee representatives should:

• Contact their consultation president;
• Contact their team of stewards;
• Contact group presidents or group executives;
• Contact any other individual or constituent body that can inform the committee on science-related activities.

As an advisory committee to the board, the SAC cannot request to add items to the PIPSC 2024 AGM’s agenda; any resolutions regarding the committee’s mandate must come from the board. As board members, regional directors are the best avenue to bring attention to SAC resolutions effectively.
 

8. New Business

8.1  Proposed New Strategic Plan for 2024-2027

The current work plan, entitled “SAC Strategic and Operational Plan 2022-2024-Approved BOD20220728” is reviewed and amended.

The work plan should identify two to three priority areas for focused efforts and tangible progress this year. These projects should be innovative, using SMART guidelines that ensure projects are measurable, time-bound, and specific. Only initiatives with achievable strategies should be included in the work plan. Additionally, the committee may establish a task force to collaborate with existing staff to develop feasible initiatives within available resources and time frames.

Potential focus areas:

• Media monitoring: strategic promotion of awareness for public science issues.
• Discuss the rise and role of AI within science and its impact on research ethics.
• Continue to emphasize the importance of scientific integrity, especially since its decline erodes the bargaining power of our scientists.

David Lee Tang, a former member of the 2023 SAC, joins virtually and introduces himself to those attending the meeting.

David shares the following insight:

• With more significant restrictions and fewer resources, scientists must be able to strategize to voice their concerns effectively and have them heard by their employers with minimal confrontation.
• To do so, scientists should find ways to mobilize public opinion so that any momentum does not come exclusively from a body of scientists, but from society and constituents. As such, messaging becomes incredibly important.
• Find ways to address the increased limitations on conference attendance and travel caps since in-person attendance can be critical for global and national recognition of legitimacy.
• Provide more opportunities for young professionals to showcase their skills using low-cost and high-yield resources such as social media.

8.2  Federal Budget 2023-2024: what’s in it for Science?

This item is postponed to the next SAC meeting in Ryan Campbell’s absence.
 

8.3  IRAP & privatization

The government has planned to move the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) to the new Canada Innovation Corporation (CIC) from the National Research Council Canada (NRC). Currently, the transition is postponed till 2026-2027.
 

8.4  Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC) participation & panel submission

Matt shared that while PIPSC had participated in panels in the past, getting a panel approved is competitive and seems related to the level of sponsorship of organizations. Many government senior science managers and policy people attend, along with academics and others, so it is a good place for PIPSC to send representatives to hear conversations on the future of government science and research. The RE Group has generally been funding two participants per year.
 

8.5  Women in Science Update

The research team member responsible for the Women in Science (WiS) project joins virtually to discuss the past, current, and planned initiatives for 2024.
 

What has been done:

The collaborative efforts of Women in Science on the West Coast resulted in a webinar for grade 11 students at a British Columbia high school focusing on engineering and technology.

Its primary aim was to dispel stereotypes about working as a scientist for the federal government by sharing insights into career paths and day-to-day operations in the field. This event allowed members to engage with individuals and institutions beyond the public service sector.

Its success has prompted plans for similar events in the future, aligning with the committee's goal of hosting WiS activities every 3 to 6 months. Totalling six webinars and attracting an average of 125 attendees per session, speakers were recruited from our women and non-binary members and external stakeholders to ensure demographic and regional diversity.
 

What is WiS currently doing?

More cafes and webinars of this type are set to occur this year.
 

What does WiS anticipate doing?

The committee would like to look into bringing the WiS learning labs back. However, reintroducing learning labs requires better promotion of events, overall communication with members, and increased volunteer engagement. Frequent turnover among members and staff regarding these projects makes it challenging to execute ambitious and long-term projects. Strategic plans to help with knowledge transfer and project handover are needed. Feasibility is also contingent upon the allocated budget for WiS endeavours. The committee should ask members to advocate for WiS support in their regions and groups to bring the matter forward when the PIPSC budget is determined at the next AGM.
 

8.6  Planning the next SAC meetings

The committee members determine by a majority vote that SAC meetings should occur on Mondays or Fridays, and not on weekends to respect members' personal and family time.
 

9. Roundtable

No further comments are added.

10. List of Action Items

• Norma to ask the board to add Daryoush Emadi to the committee as a friend.
• Coralie will email the 2023 committee members and get the minutes approved, translated, and posted to the SAC web page.
• Lionel to ask for the SAC to be removed from these distribution lists.
• Lionel to review the last two meetings and bring forth any outstanding action items.
• Committee members are to review the working plan and Norma is to submit the final copy to the Board for approval at its next meeting in March.
• Coralie/Lionel/Research team is to find the document that outlines the goal and intention of WiS.
• Reach out to the communications team to determine how best to reach members going forward.
• Coralie to create and send Doodle Polls to collect member and friend availability.
• Norma to touch base with Doctor Mona Nemer to see how the Scott Findlay modules can be advanced.
  • Strengthening evidence-informed decision making (TRN 502 Canada School of the Public Service?)  [April 22, 2024 - Waiting for response]
• Matthew to follow up with Joanna Simpson from education about the status of the S.I. training.
• Add to the next meeting’s agenda -  Norma to invite Eric Hortop to discuss how information on our members' demographics is gathered, the percentage of self-identification, and the recency and updating of such data.

Questions:

• Could such questions be added to the member recruitment form?
• What has been the best approach so far?
• Is the data accessible?
• Update the information in the document entitled “SCIENCE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (SAC) FACILITATED DISCUSSION FORUM”
   

11. Closing comments & Adjournment

Norma offers closing comments, and the meeting is adjourned.