[CivicAccess-discuss] Minister Goodyear’s office threatens federal budget funding for SSHRC according to email obtained through ATIP request

[Tracey P. Lauriault]

ATIP - OPEN Access - Academic Freedom!  I am probably pushing the
civicaccess mandate a bit by sending this one, but quite frankly, this was
totally over the top!

http://www.caut.ca/pages.asp?page=826


Minister Goodyear’s office threatens federal budget funding for SSHRC
according to email obtained through ATIP request

(Ottawa, September 28, 2009) Minister Gary Goodyear’s office threatened to
withhold federal budget funding for the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council (SSHRC) over its decision to fund a controversial academic
conference, according to an email obtained by CAUT through Access to
Information.

CAUT first learned in June that Minister Goodyear had telephoned SSHRC
president Chad Gaffield to insist on reconsideration of a peer-reviewed
decision to fund an academic conference called “Israel/Palestine: Mapping
Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace” held at York University later that
month.

“At the time we considered this personal intervention by the minister so
serious we called for his resignation,” said CAUT executive director James
Turk. “Little did we know then that the phone call was apparently
accompanied by a threat from the minister’s office to withhold increases in
federal budget funding.”

Marked “Extremely Urgent,” and sent to SSHRC president Chad Gaffield on June
5, 2009, the email is written by SSHRC’s communications manager Trevor Lynn
and describes what he has just been told by Minister Goodyear’s Chief of
Staff, Phillip Welford:

“He [Welford] said that this is a serious issue and is so serious that it
will make it hard for the Minister to recommend increased funding for SSHRC
in the next budget."

“This email raises serious questions about how decisions are made about
federal government funding for academic granting councils,” said Turk.
“Minister Goodyear must be called upon to explain his chief of staff’s
actions, and if he cannot provide an adequate explanation, Prime Minister
Harper must safeguard the integrity of academic research in Canada by asking
for the minister’s resignation.”

The original email can be viewed in PDF format
here<http://www.caut.ca/uploads/Hon_Gary_Goodyear.PDF>
.

CAUT represents over 65,000 academic staff at 121 universities and colleges
across Canada.

———————————————————————————————-
For more information e-mail Kerry Pither, CAUT Communications, at
pither at caut.ca.

-- 
Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
https://gcrc.carleton.ca/confluence/display/GCRCWEB/Lauriault
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