By MEAGAN FITZPATRICK - CBC NEWS
Added: Tue, 10 Jul 2012 20:40:19 UTC

Hundreds of people held a mock funeral on Parliament Hill to mourn what they call the death of evidence and the muzzling of scientists by the federal government.

Scientists and their supporters wore white lab coats or dressed in black and carried a wooden coffin that represented "the body of evidence" on to the steps of Parliament Hill. They carried signs with slogans and some wore buttons that said [Prime Minister] "Stephen Harper hates science."

"If we don't stand up for science, nobody will," Katie Gibbs, one of the rally's organizers, told the crowd. "After a long battle with the current federal government, evidence has suffered its final blow."

Cuts to federal science programs, legislative changes in the recent budget implementation bill and the muzzling of scientists all show the government's disregard for evidence, she said.

The elimination of the long form census, cuts to ozone monitoring, air and marine pollution as well as other environmental programs were given as examples of how the government has mounted "a systematic campaign to reduce the flow of scientific evidence to Canadians," the protesters said.

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TAGGED: SCIENCE, SOCIETY