Video from the Centre of the Universe's "final night"

Check out these videos about the closing of the Centre of the Universe - taken on the last day scheduled for public access. Lana

More than a 1000 people demonstrated support for Saanich Observatory on 'final night'

Click image to see more photos.

More than a thousand people attempted to visit the Saanich Observatory on August 24 2013, the last evening scheduled for public attendance. Most were turned away, as the facility can accommodate less than 200 people at a time. 

I stayed at the bottom of Little Saanich Hill for six hours, taking in the public's disappointment and frustration at the decision to end public access to the Saanich Observatory. I also collected more than 600 signatures on a petition calling on the Federal Government to re-instate funding for the Centre. 

This fight isn't over! I will continue to work on this issue until public access is restored. Please join the private email list - a sign-up form is to your left - so I can update you on this campaign. (Your email address will not be used for any other purpose.)

And check out great photographs from the 'final night'. Wonderful images to inspire us: we'll be back up there again!!

Lana

Lana Popham
MLA Saanich South

Centre’s closure a symbol of Canada’s misguided science policy: Editorial

For more than a decade, at the Centre of the Universe kids learned while looking out into the vastness of deep space that our modest blue planet is not, in fact, the centre of the universe. Now, due to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s industry-oriented redesign of our national science agency, the popular education facility has been senselessly closed.

The centre, which opened its doors in 2001 and shuttered them likely for good last week, is among the first casualties of the recent misguided makeover of the National Research Council. The federal government announced in May that the NRC, once a leader in pure research and science education, will now dedicate itself to large-scale industry-driven research projects, effectively transforming its $900-million budget into a business subsidy.