Campaign to create National Academies of Canada gathering momentum in lead-up to next federal Budget

Canada's two largest science organizations are betting that the time is ripe for a renewed push to create a Canadian science academy. The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) has enlisted the participation of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) and have submitted a proposal to government to jump-start the initiative that they contend will provide the nation with much needed expert advice and international stature. To establish The National Academies of Canada (NAC), they have requested $2.1 million in annual funding as well as $500,000 in start-up costs. The goal is to have the proposal endorsed later this year and funded in the next federal Budget.

The NAC would be incorporated as a not-for-profit organization and composed of at least four constituent academies, three of which fall under the umbrella of the RSC (see box). The corporate structure has been conceived to accommodate the addition of another national academy such as an institute of medicine, should such a group be created.

A key feature of the new entity would be an expert advice group to capitalize on the RSC's growing reputation for producing world-class reports on issues of interest to government and society as a whole. The government currently retains the RSC on an ad hoc basis to produce reports, but the initiative calls for the creation of a permanent expert advice group, complete with eight dedicated support staff.

"It's time for us to do this. We have a good track record given our limited resources and it's never been framed like this before," says RSC president Dr William Leiss, who introduced the concept of the expert panel division after arriving at the RSC last November. "The Royal Society is on its fifth high-profile commission and we've got the hottest issue on the planet right now - genetically modified foods."

The RSC was given the nod last February to undertake a $350,000 expert panel study on the future of food biotechnology, co-chaired by Drs Conrad Brunk (Univ of Waterloo) and Brian Ellis (Univ of British Columbia). Commissioned by the departments of health, environment and agriculture and agri-food, the decision to engage the RSC reflects a level of confidence in the group that has been lacking in the past.

In the early 1990s, the RSC was the focus of three inter-related studies and it was deemed at that time to be an unsuitable vehicle for forming a national science academy (R$, March 31/93, April 27/94, September 14/94). Coming during the time of Program Review-related cutbacks, Leiss says the RSC's proposal for $750,000 in annual funding "was laughed at", forcing staff layoffs and years of reduced activity.

"It has basically been in limbo ever since," he says, adding that the government recently provided the Society with rent-free office space for the next five years.

But the year 2000 finds the federal government in a very different frame of mind as it attempts to establish appropriate governance and operating structure to move towards a true knowledge-based economy. As science and technology issues are propelled towards the top of the national agenda, the need for an independent, arm's length organization is becoming essential, encompassing the complete range of technical knowledge as it relates to all areas of human inquiry.

A national academy can also be a powerful tool for interacting with scientific peers in the global arena, and Canada is one of the very few developed nations without such a body. The government's current interest in international S&T only heightens the need for such a function, and the NAC funding proposal is finding some influential allies.

Foremost among them is Dr Gilbert Normand, secretary of state for science, research and development. Normand is actively championing the NAC concept inside government and says he hopes he can convince his Cabinet colleagues that a modest expenditure is more than justified in light of the value it could bring to the government's growing arsenal of advisory bodies.

"Many decisions on the legislation of science are required and we need an organization to produce advice," says Normand, who is organizing a meeting this fall with all interested stakeholders. "I know I will have resistance, but I will try and put it in its place."

The decision by the CAE to team with the RSC on the proposal has brought its president, Micheline Bouchard, into the debate. The president and CEO of Motorola Canada Ltd says Canada simply can't afford to participate in the global economy without an organization that can provide insight into increasingly complex and sensitive social, technological and medical issues. She rejects the current ad hoc funding of groups like the RSC and CAE as insufficient, arguing that such an arrangement effectively allows the government to determine which issues are suitable for examination.

"As a group, we could also come forward with ideas if we feel they are important," says Bouchard. "We have to have the ability to alert the government to issues that may not be on their agenda."

In the quest for government support and funding, Leiss has also been assisted by Dr Howard Alper, the Univ of Ottawa's VP research, current president of the Academy of Science and a well-connected navigator of government bureaucracy. Hopes are running high that Ottawa will endorse the initiative but even if it doesn't, Leiss says the need for the NAC is too great to be extinguished.

"The NAC is the right thing to do and we will go ahead and establish it as a legal entity," he asserts. "At that point, if there is no interest on the part of government, we'll try to do private fund raising."

The creation of the NAC would allow Canada to fully participate in the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues, a body representing nearly 100 national and regional academies worldwide.

Bolstering the NAC's chances is the government's increased interest in international S&T. It recently struck an expert panel of the Advisory Council on S&T to examine the issue (R$, May 26/00). Chaired by Dr René Simard, the ACST will report this fall.

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