Category: Advocacy

The Canadian Association for Neuroscience joined its voice to a large coalition of Canadian stakeholders calling for the Canadian government to invest in a Canadian Brain Research Initiative, to make Brain and Mental Health Research a National Priority in Canada.

Read our brief, along with those of many other stakeholders, on the House of Commons website

https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/SRSR/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=11835988

CAN made the following recommendations to the recent consultations on budget 2023 by the Minister of Finances:

The Canadian Association for Neuroscience recommends the following:

Recommendation 1: That the government of Canada increase investments in the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for the benefit of all Canadians. We urge the government to adopt a four-year plan to double the budgets of the three main federal funding agencies (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) starting with a 25% increase in the next budget.  This recommendation aims to bring Canadian investment in scientific research to a level commensurate to that of other G7 countries.

Recommendation 2: That the government of Canada increase its support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows by 50% for graduate scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships to increase both value and number awarded in the next budget. In conjunction with recommendation 1, this recommendation will ensure our next generation of scientists have the means to participate fully in Canada’s knowledge economy.

Recommendation 3: That the government of Canada make research on the Brain and Mental Health a national priority by investing in research to understand the brain through well-established and trusted organizations in the field.

Read our full submission here (PDF)

View the results of our advocacy survey here
https://can-acn.org/can-2022-advocacy-survey/

On June 6, the new House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research tabled its first ever report, as part of its study on “Successes, Challenges and Opportunities for Science in Canada”. The Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN) was one of sixteen organizations that submitted a written submission as part of the consultations. The Committee held meetings over the course of three months, which CAN closely followed, hearing from science and research organizations, post-secondary institutions, companies and government departments.

CAN welcomes all 13 of the recommendations made to government, and is pleased that one of our recommendations (An initial 25% boost to the budgets of the three granting councils followed by a 10% yearly increase) was specifically referenced in the report. Additionally, we are happy to see that the Committee has recognized the tremendous setback to Canada’s research ecosystem caused by the pandemic, and the impact of the rapid mobilization of resources to conduct COVID-19 research, sometimes at the expense of research on other health issues. Continue reading →

We are happy to make the slides for the CAN Advocacy training presented May 13 over lunch in Toronto available

CAN Advocacy training presentation (PDF)

CAN Advocacy – Selected resources & contact list (May 2022) 

Continue reading →

Co-hosted by the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences and the Canadian Association for Neuroscience

On Monday, April 25, the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences and the Canadian Association for Neuroscience welcomed the Honourable Senator Stan Kutcher for a session on science policy and advice.

Key takeaways:

• Scientists must engage in advocacy, it is an important part of their job
• We need more scientists in Parliament.
• In the absence of more scientists in Parliament, we need scientists and researchers to advocate on behalf of their communities, and highlight the important work they are doing.
• We have to help politicians understand how science is part of everything we do, and how if we don’t invest in basic science, we don’t have the tools and products required to improve people’s health and lives.
• Scientists and researchers need to be their own champions, and try to find other long-term science champions both in the House of Commons and in the Senate.
• We need to highlight how government investments need to be in creating a “science enterprise”, so that young people will want to stay in Canada instead of going elsewhere, or being put off from doing scientific research all together.
• It takes constant, repeated, and clear messaging. Fundamental science is a long-game, and communicating its impacts to politicians is a long-game.
• Canada’s scientists need to trumpet their successes more. While mainstream media doesn’t have as many scientific journalists as it used to, science communicators need to step up to fill the void and to tell the story of science.

Continue reading →

The Canadian Association for Neuroscience recognizes key investments that were made to support targeted research areas in budget 2022 but calls on the government to provide broader support to the Canadian scientific community through increased funding for fundamental research. We are specifically disappointed with the lack of increased support for non-targeted, hypothesis-driven & investigator-led research funded through Tri-Agency – Canadian Institutes of Health Research – CIHR, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council – NSERC, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council -SSHRC). Continue reading →

Canadian neuroadvocates are meeting with members of Parliament, Senators and Parliamentary staff this week for CAN Parliament Hill Week!

We are advocating for increased funding for basic research in Canada, provided through CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC. Our specific asks are:

Recommendation 1: That the government of Canada provide a one-time 25% increase in investment in the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for research restart and recovery from the setback of the COVID-19 pandemic to research laboratories in Canada.

Recommendation 2: The government should commit to providing robust and predictable funding for basic discovery research to sustain and grow Canada’s scientific community. Funding to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) should be increased by at least 10% yearly. This recommendation is in accordance with the 2017 Fundamental Science Review and will ensure Canada’s research ecosystem is healthy and resilient to face any future challenge.

Read more in our

• 2022 Budget recommendations
• Key research facts and stats

Follow us on social media this week #CANHillWeek #NeuroAdvocate