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  • OPEN ACCESS
    Open science precision medicine in Canada: Points to consider
    FACETS • Vol. 4 • No. 1 • pp. 1 - 19
    Open science can significantly influence the development and translational process of precision medicine in Canada. Precision medicine presents a unique opportunity to improve disease prevention and healthcare, as well as to reduce health-related expenditures. However, the development of precision medicine also brings about economic challenges, such as costly development, high failure rates, and reduced market size in comparison with the traditional blockbuster drug development model. Open science, characterized by principles of open data sharing, fast dissemination of knowledge, cumulative research, and cooperation, presents a unique opportunity to address these economic challenges while also promoting the public good.The Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University organized a stakeholders’ workshop in Montreal in March 2018. The workshop entitled “Could Open be the Yellow Brick Road to Precision Medicine?” provided a forum for stakeholders to share experiences and identify common objectives, challenges, and needs to be addressed to promote open science initiatives in precision medicine. The rich presentations and exchanges that took place during the meeting resulted in this consensus paper containing key considerations for open science precision medicine in Canada. Stakeholders would benefit from addressing these considerations as to promote a more coherent and dynamic open science ecosystem for precision medicine.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Gender and language use in scientific grant writing
    FACETS • Vol. 4 • No. 1 • pp. 442 - 458
    Women in science, technology, engineering, and math are not equally represented across tenure-track career stages, and this extends to grant funding, where women applicants often have lower success rates compared with men. While gender bias in reviewers has been documented, it is currently unknown whether written language in grant applications varies predictably with gender to elicit bias against women. Here we analyse the text of ∼2000 public research summaries from the 2016 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) individual Discovery Grant (DG) program. We explore the relationship between language variables, inferred gender and career stage, and funding levels. We also analyse aggregated data from the 2012–2018 NSERC DG competitions to determine whether gender impacted the probability of receiving a grant for early-career researchers. We document a marginally significant gender difference in funding levels for successful grants, with women receiving $1756 less than men, and a large and significant difference in rejection rates among early-career applicants (women: 40.4% rejection; men: 33.0% rejection rate). Language variables had little ability to predict gender or funding level using predictive modelling. Our results indicate that NSERC funding levels and success rates differ between men and women, but we find no evidence that gendered language use affected funding outcomes.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Protecting biodiversity in British Columbia: Recommendations for developing species at risk legislation
    FACETS • Vol. 4 • No. 1 • pp. 136 - 160
    British Columbia has the greatest biological diversity of any province or territory in Canada. Yet increasing numbers of species in British Columbia are threatened with extinction. The current patchwork of provincial laws and regulations has not effectively prevented species declines. Recently, the Provincial Government has committed to enacting an endangered species law. Drawing upon our scientific and legal expertise, we offer recommendations for key features of endangered species legislation that build upon strengths and avoid weaknesses observed elsewhere. We recommend striking an independent Oversight Committee to provide recommendations about listing species, organize Recovery Teams, and monitor the efficacy of actions taken. Recovery Teams would evaluate and prioritize potential actions for individual species or groups of species that face common threats or live in a common area, based on best available evidence (including natural and social science and Indigenous Knowledge). Our recommendations focus on implementing an adaptive approach, with ongoing and transparent monitoring and reporting, to reduce delays between determining when a species is at risk and taking effective actions to save it. We urge lawmakers to include this strong evidentiary basis for species recovery as they tackle the scientific and socioeconomic challenges of building an effective species at risk Act.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Seventy years of scientific impact using neutron beams at the Chalk River Laboratories
    FACETS • Vol. 4 • No. 1 • pp. 507 - 530
    The 31 March 2018 closure of the National Research Universal reactor marked the end of over 70 years of materials research using neutron beams from major neutron sources at the Chalk River Laboratories in Chalk River, Ontario, Canada. This closure will have a major impact on the Canadian materials research community, including researchers in the physics, chemistry, and engineering of materials. After a brief review of the history of neutron beams at the Chalk River Laboratories, we present the results of a bibliometric study of the scientific output of the research with neutron beams. In this study, we compiled a complete bibliographic record of the research papers beginning with the first neutron scattering experiments at the National Research Experimental reactor in 1947, analyzed the citations from 1980 onward, and benchmarked the results against major neutron beam facilities in other countries and against other major research facilities in Canada. We also conducted a broader bibliometric analysis of the use of neutron scattering data among all Canadians, regardless of where the data were taken. The results provide a useful metric of the size of the Canadian neutron scattering community and places into context the importance of access to this research tool.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Knowledge in the dark: scientific challenges and ways forward
    FACETS • Vol. 4 • No. 1 • pp. 423 - 441
    A key dimension of our current era is Big Data, the rapid rise in produced data and information; a key frustration is that we are nonetheless living in an age of ignorance, as the real knowledge and understanding of people does not seem to be substantially increasing. This development has critical consequences, for example it limits the ability to find and apply effective solutions to pressing environmental and socioeconomic challenges. Here, we propose the concept of “knowledge in the dark”—or short: dark knowledge—and outline how it can help clarify key reasons for this development: (i) production of biased, erroneous, or fabricated data and information; (ii) inaccessibility and (iii) incomprehensibility of data and information; and (iv) loss of previous knowledge. Even in the academic realm, where financial interests are less pronounced than in the private sector, several factors lead to dark knowledge, that is they inhibit a more substantial increase in knowledge and understanding. We highlight four of these factors—loss of academic freedom, research biases, lack of reproducibility, and the Scientific tower of Babel—and offer ways to tackle them, for example establishing an international court of arbitration for research and developing advanced tools for research synthesis.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Conserving plant species at risk in Canada: land tenure, threats, and representation in federal programs
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 538 - 550
    Fully 37% of species listed under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) are plants or lichens. The law does not automatically protect species on private land, and it is unknown how many at-risk plants grow mainly on private land. We analyzed official status reports and related documents for 234 plant species at risk to determine land tenure and evaluated differences in threats and changes in status. We also assessed how well plants were represented in two federal programs: the Natural Areas Conservation Program (NACP) and the Habitat Stewardship Program (HSP). Of SARA-listed plant species, 35% have the majority of their known populations on private land while <10% occur mostly on federal land. Species growing mainly on private land were no more or less likely to decline in status over time compared with others. Plant species at risk were less likely than other taxonomic groups to be found on land protected under the NACP. The proportion of HSP projects targeting plants is well below the expected proportion based on the number of listed species. We recommend that policy-makers promote and prioritize actions to increase the representation of plant species in federally funded programs, especially on private lands.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Is Fisheries and Oceans Canada policy receptive to a new Pacific salmon health perspective?
    FACETS • Vol. 4 • No. 1 • pp. 615 - 625
    The concept of health permeates priorities and policies for managing wild Pacific salmon (Oncorynchus spp.). Regulatory agencies rely largely on salmon abundance and (or) the absence of pathogens to declare if a population is healthy. Our goal was to determine if there was a receptive policy environment within Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to adopt a cumulative effects perspective of health. We used a previously developed health model along with a multiple streams framework and a narrative review of DFO policy to see how fish health was situated in DFO’s salmon management problems, policy, and politics. We discovered that a cumulative effects perspective was consistent with policy goals and priorities. DFO’s guiding principles and responsibilities for aquatic animal health were spread across multiple policies and regulations. There were no processes or people responsible for integrating information and activities. The use of the word health in policies and planning without a consistent definition meant that DFO could not explicitly assess if it has reached its management target of healthy salmon. An option for transitioning to cumulative effects perspective is to adopt a healthy public policy perspective and processes to integrate the diverse information linked to social and environmental determinants of health.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Enacting workplace culture change for excellence in research: a gender lens
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 228 - 233
    Science and engineering research excellence can be maximized if the selection of researchers is made from 100% of the pool of human talent. This requires policies and approaches that encourage broad sections of society, including women and other underrepresented groups, to participate in research. Institutional policies, interpersonal interactions, and individuals’ attitudes are drivers of workplace culture. Here, some new evidence-based and systematic approaches with a focus on culture are proposed to foster women’s inclusion and success in science and engineering.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Synthesizing and communicating climate change impacts to inform coastal adaptation planning
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 704 - 737
    Planning for adaptation to climate change requires regionally relevant information on rising air and ocean temperatures, sea levels, increasingly frequent and intense storms, and other climate-related impacts. However, in many regions there are limited focused syntheses of the climate impacts, risks, and potential adaptation strategies for coastal marine areas and sectors. We report on a regional assessment of climate change impacts and recommendations for adaptation strategies in the NE Pacific Coast (British Columbia, Canada), conducted in collaboration with a regional planning and plan implementation partnership (Marine Plan Partnership for the North Pacific Coast), aimed at bridging the gaps between climate science and regional adaptation planning. We incorporated both social and ecological aspects of climate change impacts and adaptations, and the feedback mechanisms which may result in both increased risks and opportunities for the following areas of interest: “Ecosystems”, “Fisheries and Aquaculture”, “Communities”, and “Marine Infrastructure”. As next steps within the region, we propose proactive planning measures including communication of the key impacts and projections and cross-sectoral assessments of climate vulnerability and risk to direct decision-making.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Indigenous knowledge and federal environmental assessments in Canada: applying past lessons to the 2019 impact assessment act
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 67 - 90
    Policy-makers ideally pursue well-informed, socially just means to make environmental decisions. Indigenous peoples have used Indigenous knowledge (IK) to inform decisions about environmental management for millennia. In the last 50 years, many western societies have used environmental assessment (EA) processes to deliberate on industrial proposals, informed by scientific information. Recently EA processes have attempted to incorporate IK in some countries and regions, but practitioners and scholars have criticized the ability of EA to meaningfully engage IK. Here we consider these tensions in Canada, a country with economic focus on resource extraction and unresolved government-to-government relationships with Indigenous Nations. In 2019, the Canadian government passed the Impact Assessment Act, reinvigorating dialogue on the relationship between IK and EA. Addressing this opportunity, we examined obstacles between IK and EA via a systematic literature review, and qualitative analyses of publications and the Act itself. Our results and synthesis identify obstacles preventing the Act from meaningfully engaging IK, some of which are surmountable (e.g., failures to engage best practices, financial limitations), whereas others are substantial (e.g., knowledge incompatibilities, effects of colonization). Finally, we offer recommendations for practitioners and scholars towards ameliorating relationships between IK and EA towards improved decision-making and recognition of Indigenous rights.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Diverse perspectives on interdisciplinarity from Members of the College of the Royal Society of Canada
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 138 - 165
    Various multiple-disciplinary terms and concepts (although most commonly “interdisciplinarity,” which is used herein) are used to frame education, scholarship, research, and interactions within and outside academia. In principle, the premise of interdisciplinarity may appear to have many strengths; yet, the extent to which interdisciplinarity is embraced by the current generation of academics, the benefits and risks for doing so, and the barriers and facilitators to achieving interdisciplinarity, represent inherent challenges. Much has been written on the topic of interdisciplinarity, but to our knowledge there have been few attempts to consider and present diverse perspectives from scholars, artists, and scientists in a cohesive manner. As a team of 57 members from the Canadian College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada (the College) who self-identify as being engaged or interested in interdisciplinarity, we provide diverse intellectual, cultural, and social perspectives. The goal of this paper is to share our collective wisdom on this topic with the broader community and to stimulate discourse and debate on the merits and challenges associated with interdisciplinarity. Perhaps the clearest message emerging from this exercise is that working across established boundaries of scholarly communities is rewarding, necessary, and is more likely to result in impact. However, there are barriers that limit the ease with which this can occur (e.g., lack of institutional structures and funding to facilitate cross-disciplinary exploration). Occasionally, there can be significant risk associated with doing interdisciplinary work (e.g., lack of adequate measurement or recognition of work by disciplinary peers). Solving many of the world’s complex and pressing problems (e.g., climate change, sustainable agriculture, the burden of chronic disease, and aging populations) demands thinking and working across long-standing, but in some ways restrictive, academic boundaries. Academic institutions and key support structures, especially funding bodies, will play an important role in helping to realize what is readily apparent to all who contributed to this paper—that interdisciplinarity is essential for solving complex problems; it is the new norm. Failure to empower and encourage those doing this research will serve as a great impediment to training, knowledge, and addressing societal issues.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Peer-reviewed scientific contributions from Canadian zoos and aquariums
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 381 - 392
    With the widespread loss of biodiversity, zoos and aquariums are striving to become leaders in biodiversity conservation and research. Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) is a nonprofit organization created to represent its members, including as agencies of conservation and science. However, the contribution of CAZA members to conservation and science has not been quantified. We used research productivity in the form of peer-reviewed publications to systematically quantify biodiversity conservation engagement by CAZA institutions. We extracted publications from the ISI Web of Science database and found that the annual number of publications increased over time. CAZA members published most in the area of veterinary science, with few publications in biodiversity conservation. Organization age, research-orientated mission statements, and financial assets were significant predictors of research productivity. CAZA institutions also published significantly less (X¯ = 12.5 ± 5.52 SE) than members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (X¯ = 24.27 ± 5.08 SE), based in the United States. Zoos and aquariums are important resources in mitigating biodiversity loss, and are increasing their research output in this area. Nonetheless, only a small proportion of publications were in biodiversity conservation, and the majority of all publications occurred in zoo-centric journals.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Indigenous Peoples are critical to the success of nature-based solutions to climate change
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 551 - 556
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Analysis of heavy fuel oil use by ships operating in Canadian Arctic waters from 2010 to 2018
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 304 - 327
    In 2018, The International Maritime Organization, officially proposed consideration of a ban on heavy fuel oil (HFO) use by ships in the Arctic, because of the widely accepted understanding that HFO presents a threat to the marine environment. There is currently a lack of understanding of the scale and scope of HFO use by ships operating in Canadian Arctic waters, thus it is difficult to comprehensively evaluate the effect that such a ban may have in mitigating risk from HFO use. In this study, we conducted a spatial analysis of HFO use among ships operating in Canadian Arctic waters between 2010 and 2018. Our findings show that approximately 37% of the total number of ships that have travelled through the Canadian Arctic between 2010 and 2018 use HFO, and nearly all of these ships fall within three vessel categories: general cargo, bulk carriers, and tanker ships. In addition, HFO-fueled ships made up approximately 45% of the total distance (kilometres) travelled by all vessels between 2010 and 2018. The data also show that the majority of HFO use occurs in certain geographic areas, such as Baffin Bay near Pond Inlet and the Hudson Strait.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Sowing a way towards revitalizing Indigenous agriculture: creating meaning from a forum discussion in Saskatchewan, Canada
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 619 - 641
    Agriculture is practiced on 3–4 million acres of First Nations reserve lands in the Saskatchewan Prairies—predominantly by non-Indigenous farmers. A confluence of factors including an increase in agricultural land holdings on reserve and greater autonomy in land management have renewed conversations on how First Nations can realize the full economic benefits and exert greater control over agricultural activities that affect the reserve land base. We hosted a Forum on Indigenous Agriculture to share current knowledge on the contemporary status of Indigenous agriculture and to co-formulate research, capacity building, and policy priorities. First Nations’ roles in agriculture are diverse and were categorized in three broad contexts: as farmers, relying on traditional Indigenous or western practice, or a synergy of both; as landlords negotiating lease agreements; and as agribusiness entrepreneurs. Five themes emerged from the forum: centring Indigenous knowledge and traditional relationships to the land, capacity building, building respectful partnerships and relationships, financing farming and equitable economies, and translating research to policy and legislation. The forum provided foundational data to inform research and capacity building to meet community-defined goals in agriculture on reserve lands and by First Nations people.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Open government data and environmental science: a federal Canadian perspective
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 942 - 962
    Governments worldwide are releasing data into the public domain via open government data initiatives. Many such data sets are directly relevant to environmental science and complement data collected by academic researchers to address complex and challenging environmental problems. The Government of Canada is a leader in open data among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, generating and releasing troves of valuable research data. However, achieving comprehensive and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) open government data is not without its challenges. For example, identifying and understanding Canada’s international commitments, policies, and guidelines on open data can be daunting. Similarly, open data sets within the Government of Canada are spread across a diversity of repositories and portals, which may hinder their discoverability. We describe Canada’s federal initiatives promoting open government data, and outline where data sets of relevance to environmental science can be found. We summarize research data management challenges identified by the Government of Canada, plans to modernize the approach to open data for environmental science and best practices for data discoverability, access, and reuse.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    So, you want to host an inclusive and accessible conference?
    FACETS • Vol. 6 • pp. 131 - 138
  • OPEN ACCESS
    How did the introduction of mifepristone impact the availability of abortion care in Ottawa? A qualitative study with abortion patients
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 559 - 570
    In 2017, mifepristone and misoprostol became available for early pregnancy termination as the combination pack Mifegymiso® in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We conducted 40 semi-structured telephone interviews with Ottawa residents who had abortions before mifepristone’s introduction (n = 20) and after mifepristone–misoprostol became available (n = 20) to explore their experiences obtaining care. We audio-recorded and transcribed all interviews and analyzed these data for content and themes using deductive and inductive techniques. Prior to the introduction of mifepristone, our participants reported obtaining abortion care at two facilities and many faced long wait times. Those who had an abortion after mifepristone became available reported obtaining care from a wider array of providers and few waited more than two weeks. However, several mifepristone–misoprostol users reported having to go through a process that involved as many as 10 health service encounters. Both groups reflected positively on their abortion experiences, but some patients who obtained mifepristone–misoprostol outside of an abortion clinic did not feel as well informed as they would have liked. The introduction of mifepristone appears to have expanded the number of service delivery points and reduced wait times for those seeking abortion care in Ottawa. Identifying ways to expand access to medication abortion information and streamline services appears warranted.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    Transforming conflict over natural resources: a socio-ecological systems analysis of agricultural drainage
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 864 - 886
    Agricultural drainage is a complicated and often conflict-ridden natural resource management issue, impacting contested ecosystem services related to the retention of wetlands as well as the productivity of farmland. This research identifies opportunities to transform the conflict over agricultural drainage in Saskatchewan, Canada, towards collaboration. We report on ethnographic research informed by a conservation conflict-transformation framework to evaluate the nature of the conflict and whether drivers of the conflict operate principally at the level of disputes over discrete ecosystem services or if they reach deeper into local social circumstances and build on larger unresolved conflict(s) among groups in the region. In addition to the conflict-transformation framework, we apply the Social–Ecological Systems Framework to elicit details regarding the substantive, relational, and material dimensions of this conflict. Our research suggests that processes for governing natural resources, such as those in place for governing drainage in Saskatchewan, need to have mechanisms to facilitate relationship building and shared understandings, need to be adaptable to people’s changing needs and concerns, and should focus on inclusivity and empowerment of actors to address conflict.
  • OPEN ACCESS
    The biomedical lab after COVID-19: cascading effects of the lockdown on lab-based research programs and graduate students in Canada
    FACETS • Vol. 5 • No. 1 • pp. 831 - 835
    In the early months of 2020, the spread of the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 shook the world, which responded with various measures of quarantine, social distancing, and mass shutdowns. These measures have affected Canadian graduate students, especially those in lab-based science research programs who have been unable to access their workplaces. As a period of reopening may be approaching, and universities and research centers discuss ways to allow for work to resume cautiously, a discussion on the long-term impact of the pandemic on graduate students is necessary. Many students expressed significant concern regarding motivation with the shift to online courses; financial stress in terms of personal debt, bills, and tuition fees; as well as disrupted education and career plans. Uncertainty over the current economic situation and potential research material shortages lead to worry related to the quality and quantity of results and the impact these may have on funding. Luckily, universities, hospitals, governmental agencies, and employers have implemented a variety of programs and financial aid to help students in these trying times. Assuring the continuation of such measures is critical, and graduate students’ drive to succeed will manifest in novel ways to tackle the challenges that the COVID-19 lockdown has imposed.