The U.S. is cutting billions from science. Canadian researchers say it's time to step up

Scientists in Canada are scrambling. Over the past few months, the U.S. government has cut billions of dollars in funding from scientific research as part of sweeping cost-cutting measures.

"It's really shocking. It's really like this big cloud over science," Kate Moran, CEO of Ocean Networks Canada, told Quirks & Quarks. Ocean Networks Canada participates in a project called the Argo system, an international program that collects information from on and under the ocean using a fleet of robotic instruments that drift with the ocean currents.

But that program, which is led by researchers in the U.S., could be at risk.

Many Canadian research groups rely heavily on U.S. partners for support and data. But since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, that support has taken a massive hit.

The New York Times reported in March that the administration plans to reduce the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) workforce by up to 20 per cent, which Moran says could have a direct impact on their work. Some of those staffing cuts at the NOAA have already happened. 

"Because the U.S. is such a big player, I'm not sure we could step up and be like the U.S.," said Moran.

And cuts are happening across the board. The administration terminated $1 billion US in cuts to the National Institutes of Health, a move ruled "void and illegal" and blocked by a district judge earlier this month. The government has also been in a battle with Harvard University, putting billions of dollars of potential funding in jeopardy. Layoffs across a number of government agencies have been put on hold by a federal judge in California.

In an executive order issued by the White House in May, Trump said that "over the last 5 years, confidence that scientists act in the best interests of the public has fallen significantly."

"My Administration is committed to restoring a gold standard for science to ensure that federally funded research is transparent, rigorous, and impactful, and that Federal decisions are informed by the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available."

Environment and Climate Change Canada told CBC in a statement it "has a long-standing relationship with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on operational and research activities related to weather, climate, satellites, and water monitoring," and that the "department has not been formally informed of any changes to its collaboration with NOAA."

The trickle-down effect of cuts has left Canadian researchers trying to figure out how to adapt to these uncertain times, while others say it's now Canada's responsibility to step up.

Targeting climate science

Environmental science and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts seem to be a direct target of the Trump administration's cuts. More than 1,000 scientists and other employees are set to be laid-off from the Environmental Protection Agency's research office.

The effects have been felt in Canada. Researchers here filling out forms for U.S. government grants have had to answer questions such as "Can you confirm this is not a climate or 'environmental justice' project or include such elements?" and "Can you confirm that this is no DEI project or DEI elements of the project?"

The political climate has Deborah Wench on edge. She relies heavily on information from long-term monitoring projects to fuel her research into the carbon cycle. 

Wench studies how carbon flows between different climates. To do that, she needs long-term data sets collected from satellites. Wench says the U.S. operates a lot of the satellites used in her research.

"I'm not really sure how to express this. It's mostly, for me, a sense of impending doom," said Wench, an associate professor at the University of Toronto.

"It's taken decades and the careers of thousands of people to build up these measurement records, and it looks like it will take months to destroy them."

Though she didn't want to specify which specific instruments she uses, she says she's concerned it's on the chopping block in the U.S., which would mean a loss of long-term monitoring.

Then there's HAWC, a project that will use three Canadian-built instruments to measure the amount of aerosols, water vapour and thin ice clouds in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. 

The information could be used to improve future climate projects, assuming it continues to receive NASA support.

Trump's 2026 budget, released in May, proposed a $6 billion US funding cut to the space agency, amounting to 24 per cent of NASA's current budget.

WATCH | Canadian scientists trying to keep world's ocean sensors afloat: 

Canadian scientists trying to keep world’s ocean sensors afloat

11 hours ago

Duration 1:32

These robot scientists dive deep into the ocean to measure the vital signs of planet Earth. But proposed funding cuts in the U.S. could mean critical climate data is on the chopping block.

"Much of it is just so speculative, right?" said Chris Fletcher, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo.

"We're still kind of on the descent.... So it's unclear yet exactly how all of this will shake out, and it's quite unsettling."

One of the HAWC instruments was supposed to be attached to a NASA satellite. But Fletcher says that's now in question.

"I'm confident from the Canadian side that because of this tremendous investment that Canada has made, that our instruments will fly. The question is about which components of the proposed NASA mission will fly," said Fletcher.

CBC reached out to the Canadian Space Agency, but did not recieve a comment before publication.

What happens next

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada did not provide an interview or comment to CBC about how Canada plans to respond to funding cuts in the U.S.

Frédéric Bouchard says the turmoil in the U.S. means a greater responsibility for Canada to assert its scientific sovereignty. He was part of the federally funded Advisory Panel on the Federal Research Support System, which, in 2023, took a deep dive into how Canada could better support scientific research.

"It's our own responsibility to make sure that we have a strong and generous science capacity so we have access to the experts we need, when we need them," said Bouchard, a philosopher of science and dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at the Université de Montréal.

"We shouldn't wait for other countries to do all the hard work and hope that we can benefit from it."

He says that as American scientists leave the United States, Canada could welcome some of those researchers.

He also said it will be important to invest in the future, including support for graduate students both in Canada and abroad in the United States, to make sure they're able to continue work in their field. 

Even so, Bouchard says, what's happening in the U.S. is going to have an impact — there's no stopping that.

"What's happening is destabilizing science across the world," said Bouchard.  

"We need to make sure we play a larger role and that we build our own muscle mass, if you will, to be able to withstand more of the disruption."

Moran says Ocean Networks Canada, and other organizations like it, are ready to do so. She says they are prepared to do simple things, such as download data to protect the long-term data sets.

And if there are more cuts in the U.S., she says she's prepared to make the case to the Canadian government and request more funding.

"We're talking about what we could do to fill those gaps," said Moran. "Canada has all the skills and knowledge and scientists."

LISTEN | How Canadian scientists are coping with U.S. cuts and chaos: 

Quirks and Quarks54:00Scientific Sovereignty — How Canadian scientists are coping with U.S. cuts and chaos