After decade of muzzling, Trudeau's science advisor wants to send public servants back to school | National Observer

"Canada’s chief science advisor wants to send Canada's public servants back to school so they can learn how to properly use evidence in their decisions and policies. Mona Nemer, brought on by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government to safeguard public access to government science, said in an interview Monday her office is working with the Canada School of Public Service — a federal institute that offers training and education for public servants — to prepare coursework for employees and managers to learn more about science communication and evidence-based policy. ​Her efforts are already attracting interest abroad, as foreign counterparts track her preparations to train government scientists to speak freely about their work, and ensure government science is publicly accessible and plays a role in policy development. “I can tell you that many government science advisors around the globe are interested in this,” she said. “I think the need is there...one would have to assume that the materials and products required or needed either don’t exist, or are not readily available on any broad scale.” Nemer first outlined her office’s work with the school to National Observer on March 15, on the heels of a watchdog report into the muzzling of government scientists....

Different people understand the issue of science communication differently, argued Nemer.

“I think communicating science is being able to speak with the public, to speak with the media, to speak with schools — I think it’s in the interest of everybody that scientists be able to do so,” she said.

“Recognizing, of course, that there are certain research and scientific activities that one needs to be more mindful of when you talk about, be it national security, be it issues where there are intellectual property at play, and so on.”

Public servants often deal with confidential information and are expected to protect access to sensitive details concerning, for example, nuclear or military assets, or national pipeline infrastructure.

Security is a key aspect of the school's training, according to its most recent departmental performance report from the 2016-17 fiscal year. It said the school had "streamlined" its security curriculum and "developed a new online security screening course" aligned with a government standard.

The school hosted a special event on "how national security works" in 2015 an event on cybersecurity in September 2017. On May 1, it's hosting an event on security and open source software.

“I think that everybody understands that there are certain issues that are of national security, and that one needs to be more careful about,” said Nemer. “All this can be explained and is quite easy to appreciate."

The federal government, which is regularly bombarded with cyber attacks, released a budget this spring that proposed hundreds of millions of dollars in cyber security and cybercrime spending."