WATCH: The Fifth Estate, "The Silence of the Labs", January 10th. CBC TV
Please forward widely to get as much attention as possible for this issue.
PREVIEW:
[ http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2013-2 ... f-the-labs ]
The Fifth Estate on January 10th for an investigative report by Linden McIntyre on the troubling, shameful and 1984-ish firing and retiring of scientists and the closing of scientific labs in Canada by the current, despicable federal government. Some details and a LINK to the promo below.
The Silence of the Labs
In the past few years, the federal government has cut funding to more than 76 world renowned research institutes and hundreds of programs.
The Harper government has dismissed more than 2,000 scientists and researchers. It has cut programs that monitored smoke emissions, food inspections, oil spills, water quality and climate change. Now scientists have become unlikely radicals, denouncing what they call is a politically-driven war on knowledge.
In Silence of the Labs, Linden MacIntyre tells the story of scientists - and what is at stake for Canadians - from Nova Scotia to the B.C. Pacific Coast to the far Arctic Circle.
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This message will be a reminder for some of you, but the contents will come as quite a shock to others!
It's hard to know where to start. Many of us have known about the wilful destruction of our Canadian science libraries for awhile, but it's only now becoming public. The very short 'youtube' on the Fifth Estate website (below) will give you an idea of what the Federal government has been doing 'behind the backs' of Canadians and it's very sad news.
Andrew Nikiforuk (investigative journalist Calgary) was on CBC radio a few days ago talking about the ongoing Library destruction, calling it a "national tragedy bordering on a criminal act".
Recently the government literally trashed approximately 7 Department of Fisheries and Oceans libraries across Canada, libraries that held years and years of research. We were aware of this story, but it was when we recently saw photographs (taken secretly) of the devastation that we felt kicked in the stomach - it looked as if a hurricane had ripped through the rooms.. books falling off shelves, many now empty.
They have lied about the 'why' of doing such an act... saying that they were digitalized, but they weren't. They have done the same to libraries under the Department of Environment, Parks, Immigration and the list goes on. The reason wasn't for cost savings as the government is saving only a small amount - everyone knows the reasons are strictly 'ideological'.
We forwarded the Fifth Estate program information to a Comox Valley social justice website dedicated to this kind of news, and when the editor emailed back to confirm she'd posted it, she added that a similar story is what happened to all of the journals and files from our west coast lighthouses when the government decommissioned them... they were thrown in bins or given away. More than 100 years of lighthouse history gone forever.
In the short video introduction to the Fifth Estate program you'll see a woman, an anthropology researcher who has worked in the far north for over 25 years on a scientifically sensitive plot of land. One day she was told to take what was important to her and leave. We saw that program last year and it was heartbreaking.
And in the helicopter scene you'll see the host, Linden McIntyre and Dr. David Schindler, recently retired from the University of Alberta, an outspoken critic of the ongoing destruction of our beautiful Canadian environment. This important program is on The Fifth Estate, January 10th. Please check your local listings for times.
Please forward the notice of this program to as many people as possible. Maybe it's not too late to save some of our Canadian heritage.
John and Rosemary Baxter
* current and detailed article and photographs on the same subject...
[ http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/capt-trevo ... 34729.html ]