Science Meets Parliament BC 2025
May 08, 2025
“As an organizer [of Science Meets Parliament BC] this year, I got a bigger, broader perspective on the benefits of the program,” says UVic post-doctoral fellow Andrea Mellor, who attended as a participant last spring. “With everything going on in the world, seeing the collegiality of the MLAs brings a lot of humanity to our relationships with people in office, in public service.”
The Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) created and runs the Science Meets Parliament (SMP) program to strengthen connections between Canada’s researchers and Members of Parliament. In 2024, CSPC organized the first regional event in BC, linking university researchers with members of the provincial legislature.
On April 28 and 29, 2025 14 early-career scholars from UVic made up more than half of the delegates at the second provincial SMP; others came from the University of BC, UBC-Okanagan, University of Northern BC and Simon Fraser University.
Mellor, a scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research (CISUR), focuses on marginalized populations. For the past two years, she’s been working with youth to understand the health landscapes in their communities.
She said that Science Meets Parliament feeds several important aspects of her research: networking; service; public knowledge dissemination; and understanding how legislation and policy function in the lives of the people she works with. And the benefits truly run both ways. Mellor was delighted to see how eager the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) were to learn about the scholars’ research.
Jean Buckler, an assistant professor in the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education, agrees.
“My biggest takeaway is how phenomenal the appetite for connecting with scientists was within our legislative assembly,” she says. “Every single person I spoke to at the Legislature was so passionate about bringing evidence-based knowledge into our provincial policies. The program gave me an incredible opportunity to see firsthand how ideas and evidence are transformed into policy.”
At SMP BC, Buckler met half a dozen ministers and MLAs. She spoke with Spencer Chandra Herbert, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, about the role of physical activity in supporting the sports environment within our province, for example. She also heard firsthand from MLA Nina Krieger her excitement for UVic’s new Faculty of Health.
“As we know,” Buckler says, “health, both physical and mental, is such a critical field in these current times, and hearing enthusiasm for our new faculty was encouraging!”
For her part, Mellor can cite concrete impacts of her participation last year.
“Learning about the parliamentary process helps me connect the dots between the people I work with — often marginalized, Indigenous and former youth in care — and the legislative process,” Mellor says. “It’s helpful to know where the linkages are made. It’s useful for developing funding proposals. And now I know I can sit in on committee meetings such as the BC Representative for Children and Youth.”
One member of last year’s SMP organizing team connected Mellor with the University of Lethbridge, where she was invited to give talks. She was able to present her BC-based health research and learn about concerns of Alberta-based scholars.
Back on the coast, a group of Pearson College high-school students had reached out to CISUR, looking for information about the opioid crisis.
“I spoke with them about the issue and the roots of the problems,” Mellor says. “Those students then shared knowledge with others and created a documentary film, which screened last month! After Science Meets Parliament, I was able to connect them with the assistant to the Speaker of the House, who made sure they knew they — and all members of the public — are welcome to attend Question Period.
“That was a great full-circle moment.”
Rachel Goldsworthy