October 1999 Meeting Minutes

First Meeting: October 13-15, 1999
Summary of Proceedings

CBAC Members

Guests

Staff

Consultants

1. Welcoming Presentations

   1. 1.1 - On the evening of October 13, 1999, the Honourable John Manley, Minister of Industry and Chair of the Biotechnology Ministerial Coordinating Committee, welcomed members of CBAC, and indicated the importance attached to the work of CBAC by government.

   2. 1.2 - The following morning, Mr. Kevin Lynch, Deputy Minister of Industry and Chair of the Deputy Ministers Biotechnology Coordinating Committee re-iterated the government’s view that biotechnology was integral to succeeding in a global economy. He outlined the characteristics shared by successful advisory bodies, urged CBAC to focus on areas that do not duplicate work already underway and emphasized the readiness of the senior staff in government to assist CBAC and to consider its advice seriously.

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2. Background Presentations

   1. 2.1 - Mr. John Banigan, Assistant Deputy Minister, Industry Sector, Industry Canada, and Dr. Joe Losos, Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Protection Branch, Health Canada reviewed the evolution of the Canadian Biotechnology Strategy (CBS) and the role in it of CBAC.

   2. 2.2 - The Chair reviewed the specific terms of CBAC’s mandate. He pointed out that the order of the items in the mandate was not intended to reflect relative priority and that CBAC was free to examine issues of its own choosing and was not restricted to matters referred to it by government. The need to be selective, focused, specific, transparent and oriented to adding value to the process of shaping public policy were emphasized by various members during the course of the discussion.

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3. The Modus Operandi of CBAC

   The members discussed the modus operandi of CBAC focused on the establishment and terms of reference of three standing sub-committees (SSCs) representing the three main themes of the Canadian Biotechnology Strategy: namely, economic opportunity; stewardship; citizen engagement.¹ These themes were elaborated for the purpose of denoting the mandates of the subcommittees. The mandates were stated as follows:
   • scientific developments leading to biotechnological innovations and their applications to health, the environment and the economy
   • social, legal and ethical dimensions of the development and application of biotechnological innovations
   • engagement of Canadians in discussion of the public policy implications of the development and application of biotechnological innovations

   A preliminary assignment of CBAC members to the three standing subcommittees was made by the Chair, in consultation with the Secretariat, taking into account the desirability of reflecting CBAC’s multi-sectoral composition in the composition of the SSCs.²

   In addition to SSCs, it is intended that CBAC will employ ad hoc sub-committees, task forces, working groups, expert panels and other approaches for undertaking specific projects. Such ad hoc groups could include one or more members of CBAC and others with special expertise.

   Other logistic aspects of the operations of CBAC were discussed, including:
   • the staff and budget support available from the Canadian Biotechnology Secretariat (CBSec), for CBAC and its SSCs;
   • electronic communications support, including plans to develop a special website the desired frequency, duration, location and tempo of meetings.
   • There was general support for keeping the total number of days devoted to in-person meetings within the 10-12 days per annum range, recognizing that during the start-up phase, meeting frequency might be higher than is intended on an ongoing basis. There was support for holding meetings in locations that provided greatest ease of access (e.g. Toronto). Members indicated they wished to concentrate on deliberations on substantive issues and not on bureaucratic matters and they wished to work at a quick tempo in order to maximize productivity
   • the establishment of a CBAC Executive Committee (e.g. comprising the Chair of CBAC and the Chairs of the three SSCs) was seen as a reasonable way for the Chair of CBAC to have a forum in which to discuss matters between meetings of CBAC and to have an identified group of individuals to assist the Chair in representing CBAC to external entities in appropriate circumstances confidentiality of meetings.
   • There was general agreement that apart from the meetings or parts of meetings of CBAC devoted to discussing its internal business affairs and the documentation related thereto, which will be regarded as confidential, CBAC will operate in an open and transparent fashion as indicated in its mandate.
   • conflict of interest- It was noted that the composition of CBAC was intentionally designed to reflect a variety of expertise and that a special type of conflict of interest policy was required for such a group. The Chair undertook to develop, in consultation with legal advisors, a draft policy for CBAC’s consideration at its next meeting.
   • guiding principles- CBAC considered a proposed set of principles to guide its activities. The principles as revised following discussion are shown in attachment 2.
   • external communications- The members were provided with guidelines pertaining to interactions with the media (attachment 3) and held a preliminary discussion about publicizing its activities. Further discussion about CBAC’s communication strategy will take place at CBAC’s next meeting.

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4. Criteria for Prioritizing Issues

   In considering the criteria to be used in selecting and prioritizing issues for inclusion in CBAC’s work plan, the members accepted those identified in the agenda material and added others. The members were not in favor of weighting the criteria but recognized that some might be considered primary criteria and others as secondary or complementary. A rough list of criteria or criterion-related statements was developed (attachment 4).³

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5. Issue/Topic Identification

   The three SSCs acting as work groups (see footnote 2) identified issues/topics that might be addressed in CBAC’s work plan. These were then reported to CBAC as a whole which rank-ordered them by having each member identify the three issues/topics that he/she deemed to have the highest priority. The results of this process are also shown in attachment 4. The members noted that the list was preliminary and required further development, taking into account the areas of particular interests of government.

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6. Issues/Topics for CBAC as Viewed by Government Departments

   Presentations of the Deputy Ministers of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Health Canada, and Industry Canada addressed departmental activities in the biotechnology field and described some of the challenges which CBAC might consider addressing: regulation of products: maintenance of a science-based system; transparency of regulatory system; access to information; labelling and product segregation facilitation of commercialization and market access intellectual property rights: patenting of higher life forms; ownership of the human genome; development of an effective and comprehensive patenting system; constraints to scientists and downstream users (advice required within 12 months for input into WTO negotiations); biotechnological developments in surveillance, diagnosis and prevention of disease enhancing the climate for development and acceptance of biotechnology: managing the moral/ethical issues involved risk assessment in decision-making the nurturing of innovation “clusters” communications: building consumer understanding and support (de-mystification of biotechnology for ordinary Canadians); seeking consensus on ethical issues; branding Canada as responsible science based leader⁴

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7. Public Engagement

   CBAC heard presentations from the National Forum on Health, and the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy on the subject of public engagement. Mme Marie Fortier described the former’s multi-stakeholder national consultations, including the successes and challenges, and summarized some of the lessons learned as the need for a direct approach, attention to organizational detail, and sufficient resources to consult appropriately. Mr Nyberg from the NRTEE described the citizens jury experience undertaken on the issue of climate change, commenting on the intervener selection process, and on some of the pitfalls and successes attributed to that consultation approach.

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8. Press Release

   A draft of a press release about CBAC’s inaugural meeting was presented. Concern was expressed about the exclusive focus of the proposed news release on the guiding principles of CBAC. The general view was that press releases should be reserved for matters of substance rather than form.

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9. Next Meeting

   The next meeting of CBAC will be held on November 17 and 18 in Ottawa.

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¹ The generic terms of reference of an SSC are appended as attachment 1. They are to be refined as experience of working in the SSC format is gained.

² The assignments were used later in the meeting as a convenient way to form three groups to discuss a preliminary identification of specific issues to be included in CBAC’s initial work plan. Following the latter discussions, it was observed that the balance of areas of interest and expertise amongst the three SSCs could be improved. The Chair undertook to shift assignments to achieve that objective.

³ The list of criteria will be refined and reorganized by the Chair for presentation at the next meeting of CBAC.

⁴ Further presentations from other departments involved with biotechnology are being arranged for the next meeting of CBAC