Kirsty Duncan

After graduating from Kipling Collegiate Institute in 1985 as an Ontario scholar, Duncan studied geography and anthropology at the University of Toronto. She then entered graduate school at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and completed a Ph.D. in geography in 1992.[2]

Duncan was an associate professor of Health Studies at the University of Toronto, where she taught global environmental processes and medical geography.[3] Duncan is the former research director for the AIC Institute of Corporate Citizenship at the Rotman School of Management.[4] As well, Duncan served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization which won the Nobel Prize in 2007.[5]

From 1993 to 2000, Duncan taught meteorology, climatology and climate change at the University of Windsor.[6] In 1992, as she became aware of the increasing probability of a global flu crisis, she was led to investigate the cause of the similar 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, saying, "I was horrified we didn’t know what caused Spanish flu, and also knew that if we could find fragments of the virus, we might be able to find a better flu vaccine".[7][8]

Though at the time she "knew nothing about influenza",[9] she began what she called a "six-month crash course in virology".[9] Eventually, she began searching for possible frozen samples of lung and brain tissue that might contain the virus. Her initial thoughts led her to think of Alaska,[9] as it contains large areas of permafrost, which would leave the viruses intact, but the search proved fruitless.

Eventually, after several years of searching, Duncan learned of seven miners who had died from the Spanish flu and were buried in the small town of Longyearbyen, Norway, an area that would contain permafrost. She then began assembling a team of scientists to accompany her. After several more years of preparation, which involved garnering various permissions to perform the exhumations, the ground survey began in 1998. However, the samples were not viable, as the bodies were not in the permafrost, and the expedition ultimately proved a disappointment.[7]

In 2003, Duncan wrote a book about her expedition, entitled Hunting the 1918 Flu: One Scientist's Search for a Killer Virus. Published by the University of Toronto Press, it details Duncan's process and the expedition itself. After the book's publication, Duncan began speaking about pandemics, which led her to begin teaching corporate social responsibility at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. In 2008, Duncan published a second book, Environment and Health: Protecting our Common Future.

Duncan is currently an adjunct professor teaching both medical geography at the University of Toronto and global environmental processes at Royal Roads University, and served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.[10]

In 2018, the University of Edinburgh awarded her an honorary degree.[11]

In February 2008, Roy Cullen announced that he would not be running in the next federal election[12] and Duncan was appointed as the next Liberal candidate. She was elected in the 2008 general election and re-elected in the 2011, 2015, and 2019 general elections.

On November 4, 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed her to the Cabinet as minister of science.[13] Duncan was tasked with establishing the new position of chief science officer that would serve as a replacement to the position of national science adviser role eliminated by Stephen Harper in 2008.[2] As well Duncan became minister for sports and persons with disabilities after Kent Hehr resigned from cabinet following sexual misconduct allegations.[14]

As minister of science and sport, Duncan has made ending abuse and harassment in sport her priority since taking over the portfolio in January 2018.[15] She wants to instituted a series of initiatives, including establishing new policy for national sports organizations, funding the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada to create an investigation unit, and setting up a toll-free confidential tipline for athletes and witnesses to call if they experience abuse.[15] Duncan's action items include creating a code of conduct with sanctions and finding a way to prevent coaches or officials from freely moving to another province or club after allegations of abuse.[15] Currently this action item is a work in progress.[15]

Duncan's priority as minister of science was to "unmuzzled our scientists".[16] Duncan was able to bring back the long-form census and chief scientific advisor.[17]

In 2019, Kirsty Duncan won her Etobicoke North seat in west Toronto.[18]

Duncan reported that the government in 2018 devoted $2.8 billion to renewing Canada's federal science laboratories because they said that they understand the critical role that government researchers play in Canada's science and research community.[19]

She was re-elected in the 2019 federal election. Following which, Duncan was appointed deputy leader of the government in the House of Commons.[20]

Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a proposed extremely large telescope (ELT) that has become controversial due to its planned location on Mauna Kea, which is considered sacred land according to the native Hawaiians, on the island of Hawaii in the United States.[21]The Government of Canada has made a commitment to spend $243.5 million over a period of 10 years for the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.[22] The telescope's enclosure was designed by Dynamic Structures Ltd. in British Columbia.[23] In an online petition, a group of Canadian academics have called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau together with Industry Minister Navdeep Bains and Science Minister Kirsty Duncan to divest Canadian funding from the project. The online petition titled "A Call to Divest Canada's Research Funding for the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea" was posted to Change.org on July 20, 2019.[24]

• Johan Hultin, a pathologist who also used frozen tissues to study the 1918 influenza virus

• Kirsty Duncan – Parliament of Canada biography