SNOLAB receives $100 million in additional funding
A federal announcement Friday morning in Sudbury was aimed at improving research infrastructure in Canada.
The federal government is spending $628 million to improve or maintain research facilities of national importance.
François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, said this investment, will support our world-class research facilities that drive innovation and the researchers who are making important discoveries.
“We’re making sure that Canada is equipped to support the next generation of researchers who will tackle the world’s most pressing issues and who will advance our society for all to thrive,” said Champagne.
“Locally, the opportunities for long term economic development and job creation are incredible,” Lapointe said in a press release.
Champagne along with Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe visited key local industry innovators on Thursday and Friday.
On Aug. 18, they visited NORCAT and Vale’s Integrated remote operations center (iROC)-co-located at the North Atlantic Operations Center and met with various industry stakeholders from the area including Frontier Lithium, MIRARCO, TesMan, Symboticware and Glencore Sudbury.
Champagne recognizes the key role of research infrastructure. The announced $628 million in funding, from the Government of Canada and through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) Major Science Initiative (MSI) Fund, will support 19 research infrastructure projects at 14 institutions across the country.
One of the infrastructure projects receiving over $100 million in CFI funding is SNOLAB, the internationally renowned ultra-clean facility focused on the study of neutrinos and the search for galactic dark matter. Research at the facility, which is located two kilometres underground and the deepest of its kind, also includes genomics, ultra-sensitive environmental monitoring and testing of quantum computing equipment.
SNOLAB is Canada’s deep underground research laboratory, located in Vale’s Creighton mine near Greater Sudbury.
“We are pleased to see SNOLAB benefit from the support of the Canada Foundation for Innovation,” Alfredo Santana, director of North Atlantic Operations with Vale Canada, said.
“Like Vale, CFI sees the value that this world-class research institution offers the mining innovation space and beyond. We congratulate SNOLAB on this grant and look forward to continued collaboration.”
SNOLAB currently has space for one more next generation experiment and multiple international collaborations are competing for it.
“The opportunities for Canada to be a leader in clean technology, critical mineral innovation and mining, combined with the Government of Canada’s investments in our world class science programs and facilities like SNOLAB here in Sudbury, have set us on a trajectory of incredible potential,” Lapointe said.
SNOLAB’s science program focuses on astroparticle physics; it provides an ideal environment for the study of extremely rare physical interactions. Its unique location is also well-suited to biology and geology experiments. SNOLAB is an expansion of the facilities constructed for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) solar neutrino experiment.
SNOLAB is celebrating 10 years of leading astroparticle physics research in 2022.
A staff of over 100 support the science, providing business processes, engineering design, construction, installation, technical support, and operations. SNOLAB research scientists provide expert and local support to the experiments and undertake research in their own right as part of experimental collaborations. The facility trains highly qualified personnel; the next generation of scientists.
“Sustained investments such as this have allowed SNOLAB to develop world-class infrastructure and highly skilled staff,” Dr. Jodi Cooley, SNOLAB’s executive director, said.
SNOLAB has been home to researchers from 164 institutions spanning 24 countries.
“So, more and more the innovation is becoming a key economic factor for Sudbury, our mining innovation clusters and SNOLAB is really important, so it creates really good jobs and it also helps keep our youth here in the community. So, it’s very important,” added Lapointe.
“Locally, the opportunities for long-term economic development and job creation are incredible.”
Story updated with reporting done by CTV News Northern Ontario's Molly Frommer.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.