Nature: Canada’s government should free its scientists to speak to the press.

An interesting editorial was published today on nature.com and will be coming out in tomorrow’s edition of Nature. It’s titled Frozen out: Canada’s government should free its scientists to speak to the press, as its US counterpart has [1]. It has clear importance to the topic of this blog so I’m providing a link to it here.

The following few sentences which are extracted directly from the article do a good job of summarizing its message:

Since Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party won power in 2006, there has been a gradual tightening of media protocols for federal scientists and other government workers. Researchers who once would have felt comfortable responding freely and promptly to journalists are now required to direct inquiries to a media-relations office, which demands written questions in advance, and might not permit scientists to speak. Canadian journalists have documented several instances in which prominent researchers have been prevented from discussing published, peer-reviewed literature. Policy directives and e-mails obtained from the government through freedom of information reveal a confused and Byzantine approach to the press, prioritizing message control and showing little understanding of the importance of the free flow of scientific knowledge.

The editors of Nature devote their career to disseminating science, and are recognized as being among the most qualified in the world to do so. They take their job seriously and are expressing concern about a very serious issue that affects Canada in a very important way. We should heed their message.

---

[1] The details of how to access the article are:
Nature 483, 6; 2012 (doi:10.1038/483006a)
It refers to another article, also from Nature and with a very similar message, that can be accessed here:
K. O’Hara, Nature 467, 501; 2010 (doi:10.1038/467501a)

Updated March 3/2012 to fix a typo.

Steven Schnoor versus the Ambassador

Avaaz has a campaign out about some evictions that took place on behalf of a Canadian mining company in Guatemala. They are alleging that women were raped, a man was killed, and another man paralyzed during the evictions. About a year ago, a good friend of mine told me about evictions in Guatemala, but in a different context. It was evictions on behalf of the same mining project that Steven Schnoor, a Canadian graduate student, was present at and made a short documentary video of.

Interestingly, a court in Ontario has determined that Steven Schnoor was slandered by, of all people, the man who was then Canadian Ambassador to Guatemala. Steven Schnoor took the ambassador to court saying the ambassador claimed that an image in the video was not taken during the evictions, and that a woman was paid by Mr. Schnoor to act in the video. Some aspects of this story are discussed in interviews on the CBC program As It Happens that are accessible from Steven Schnoor’s website under the tab titled News and Multimedia here.

The fact that the judge determined that a Canadian citizen was slandered by his ambassador, and the fact that the man who was slandered was speaking on behalf of people who have very little recourse against abuse in their own country, to me speaks enormous volumes. Equally important is the fact that when Mr. Schnoor tried to ask his government for an explanation, he got what I can only describe as a non-reply. Mr. Schnoor has posted a copy of an email that he received from Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. You can read it yourself as it has been posted on Steven Schnoor’s website (the link to it is given in the last paragraph here). Having read it, I have to say that this reply rings as hollow to me as the ones that I received myself and which I have previously posted on this blog for you to read.

About the mine and the allegations of rape and murder that Avaaz has mentioned. The mine is called the Fenix project. The rapes are alleged to have occurred in 2007 when the Fenix project was owned by Skye Resources. Skye Resources merged with HudBay Minerals in 2008. The murder is alleged to have occurred in 2009, and in 2011 HudBay announced that it would sell the Fenix project. There are now plans for legal action against HudBay Minerals. In case you would like some more details about the allegations and the lawsuit, here are some links to news articles:

Guatemalan widow’s lawsuit against HudBay could be precedent setting, February 18, 2011, by Matthew Hill from Mining Weekly: http://www.miningweekly.com/article/guatemalan-widows-lawsuit-against-hudbay-could-be-precedent-setting-2011-02-18

HudBay faces fresh $55m lawsuit from Guatemalan group, March 29, 2011, by Matthew Hill from Mining Weekly:
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/hudbay-faces-fresh-55m-lawsuit-from-guatemalan-group-2011-03-29

Guatemalan lawsuits to continue against HudBay, says lawyer, August 10, 2011, by Matthew Hill from Mining Weekly:
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/lawsuits-against-hudbay-over-guatemalan-project-to-continue-says-lawyer-2011-08-10

An article about the merger of Hudbay Minerals and Skye Resources. Hudbay Minerals, Skye Resources to merge, June 23, 2008, The Canadian Press:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2008/06/23/hudbaysky.html

Again, Steven Schnoor’s website where he explains the details of his court case against the Canadian Ambassador to Guatemala, and where you can view the documentary video that has been the subject of this discussion, is here:
http://www.schnoorversuscanada.ca/index.html

While we need to recognize that mining itself is a very honourable line of work, this state of affairs is absolutely nowhere near acceptable. It is completely unacceptable for our democratically elected government to use its diplomatic and financial influence to support Canadian business at any expense, including the name and reputation of other Canadians, in parts of the world where there is virtually no recourse against environmental and human rights abuses. For us to then operate under this silly premise that everyone is principally motivated to only do what’s best when no one’s watching raises things to the level of absolute lunacy.

Updated Feb 29/2012 4:32 am UTC