The new Republican regime in Washington is waging a veritable war on science. This isn’t something we are unfamiliar with in this country. Science was under siege during the Harper government. The long-form census was eliminated; Canada was pulled out of the Kyoto protocol; science budgets were cut and research facilities closed; scientists were prevented from speaking to the media; and, Soviet-style, political minders accompanied Canadian scientists attending international events. Fortunately much of this was corrected with a new government in 2015.

The onslaught on American science is much more comprehensive. There are mass layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including well-established senior scientists.

The administration is planning on eliminating the EPA’s scientific research arm which could mean the loss of as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists. The National Institutes of Health faces a 67 percent reduction in funding. Dozens of universities are being threatened, some facing huge cuts in research funding. NASA has been forced to fire top scientists and close major scientific offices.

Aside from funding cuts, information is being suppressed. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been blocked from publishing scientific information on the threat of bird flu. Scientists have been instructed to remove references to mRNA vaccine technology from grant applications, suggesting the abandonment of this field of research. NOAA weather reporting is being dismantled, CDC datasets are being removed and key research terms are being censored.

A number of these actions have been delayed by the courts, providing at least a breath of temporary relief. Some may prove to be unconstitutional.

Scientists, meanwhile, are fighting back. A coalition of 48 scientific organizations, representing 100,000 U.S. scientists, sent a joint letter to Congress urging immediate action to protect federally funded research and safeguard scientists. The Union of Concerned Scientists and other stakeholders sued Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency alleging that the funding cuts, dismantling of scientific agencies and mass firings are largely illegal. Thousands of supporters across the U.S. rallied in a Stand Up for Science campaign, protesting the administration’s escalating war on science and demanding action to protect research.

We in this country should wish them the greatest success because the war will have major effects on our science and on us generally. The U.S. is by far the major force in scientific research. For example, the budget for bio-medical research grants of the NIH dwarfs that of any other health research funders. One only has to think of one piece of science and the millions of lives it saved—the mRNA COVID vaccine—to imagine what could be lost.

Our scientists depend on American research and many of our scientists collaborate closely with theirs, often obtaining funding from organizations such as the NIH as well.

In response to the Harper government’s anti-science actions, a group of graduate students and professors at the University of Ottawa created the organization Evidence for Democracy. E4D champions the integration of scientific evidence in government decision-making. It promotes public support for transparent and evidence-informed policies that benefit society and equips the scientific community with tools and knowledge to take an active role in bridging the gap between science and policy.

It is currently active in supporting American scientists in their fight. To that end, it has launched a new resource, “Science Under Siege: Tracking U.S. Policy and Its Impact on Canada,” to keep abreast of breaking news from the U.S. and analyze what it means for this country. An American Trump tracker managed by the journal Science can be found here. Check them out.