More on this story by NATASCIA LYPNY for the Media Co-op 

 

Some context from the Guardian UK: 

 

From the Facebook call out for the event:

 

Queen's Park -south side in front of Legislature

 

We will assemble at 11:45 at Queen’s Park, ( IMPORTANT: WE MEET ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF QUEEN'S PARK, IN FRONT OF THE BUILDING ) there will be a few short speeches, and we will march down University Ave.to Elm Street and back to Queen’s Park.

 

Please come – in a lab coat if possible – and bring a friend along.

 

The Toronto Rally is jointly organized by the UTGSU http://www.gsu.utoronto.ca/ and Scientists for the Right to Know http://www.scientistsfortherighttoknow.ca/

 

Scientists for the Right to Know began when we -- a collective of

concerned citizens -- realized that the Canadian federal government has been

waging a systematic assault on science as the basis of relevant

information for policy making, and for knowing ourselves as a country

and a nation.

 

Here are just a few of the issues we will no longer know about ourselves:

 

Accurate detailed information about recent immigrants, people with

disabilities, Aboriginal people, people with lower levels of education,

post-secondary students because of the abolition of the mandatory

long census form.

Information about the environmental effects of almost 3,000 projects

-- information collection which was cancelled by the Canadian

Environmental Assessment Agency after passing of the Omnibus Bill.

The number of Aboriginal women gone missing or murdered through the

cutting of the Sisters in Spirit database.

Detailed information on the lives of low-income Canadians through the

abolition of the National Council of Welfare.

 

Some of the ways in which science is being destroyed include:

 

Closing down whole research organizations

 

Partially de-funding research organizations

 

Maintaining a research organization but perverting its work 

 

Stacking overseeing bodies with government supporters

 

Firing (or not renewing, or harassing until they resign) individuals who oppose government polices

 

Preventing the remaining scientists from speaking to the public, or the media

 

Preventing scientists to communicate with other scientists

 

Making it illegal for government scientists to criticize the government on and even off work

 

In other words, the current federal government is out to destroy science as a basis for gaining information.