“When I told my son it was closing, he burst into tears”: Toronto public health expert Sabina Vohra-Miller on her plan to save the Ontario Science Centre

Last Friday, the provincial government abruptly announced the immediate closure of the Ontario Science Centre due to roof damage that presents a safety issue, according to Ontario’s minister of infrastructure. Still, the decision to shutter a beloved Toronto landmark—one that has acquainted young people with a love of science (and the jolt of static electricity) for more than half a century—wasn’t well received by residents, including enraged city councillors.

Public health doctoral candidate Sabina Vohra-Miller is so outraged that she has personally offered up $1 million to help keep the facility open. Vohra-Miller is a science fanatic—during the pandemic, her Instagram account Unambiguous Science was an apolitical resource that broke down complicated health information into digestible posts. Now, she’s hoping that her offer—which has been matched by other high-profile Torontonians like Geoffrey Hinton—will help the Science Centre survive.

Were you as surprised as everyone else to hear the news about the Science Centre? I was shocked. I was actually there last week with my son, Aavir. His school gets out a little early for the summer, and the Science Centre was the first thing on our to-do list. We wanted to spend some time there before the end-of-year rush, and now I’m so grateful that we did. He was finally old enough to try the Van de Graaff generator that makes your hair stand up. When it was time to leave, he kept saying that he wasn’t ready to go. He wanted to watch another IMAX movie, see another exhibit. I was like, “Don’t worry about it, the summer is just starting—we’ll be back.”

Famous last words. I know, right? Now I can’t keep up my end of the bargain. When I told my son that the centre was closing, he burst into tears. We’ve spent a lot of time there over the years, like so many families. I kept thinking, What’s going on here? How is this possible? Especially right before summer, when they have so much programming, including camps that have now been cancelled.

The province has said that fixing the roof would cost between $20 and $44 million and take up to five years. That’s what they’ve said, but we were there last week, and it didn’t look like it was falling apart. Don’t get me wrong—there is obviously a need for some repairs, but the idea that there are only two choices, close right away or devote huge amounts of money and time, is not accurate. At least not according to the report that the province is pointing to as a justification for what they’re doing.

I assume you’ve read it? I have—cover to cover. It includes various options, including one outlining what it would take to keep things safe and running through October (before it starts to snow). The emergency work involves only a small percentage of the roof panels, and none of them are in the exhibit area. So you could do the repairs and keep everything open at the same time. That’s not my opinion—that’s what the report says. And the cost of that repair is not much compared to these larger figures we’re hearing about: only around $500,000. When I read that, I thought, We’ll just pay it so we can keep things open in the short term. And then we can hopefully have a conversation about long-term plans as well.

You mean the plan to relocate the Science Centre to Ontario Place? Yes. After I read the engineering report, I read the report from the auditor general that came out last December. It raises a lot of questions about the province’s plans as well as the lack of transparency that has surrounded the whole process. I see now that I was naïve in assuming that the relevant stakeholders had been consulted: school boards, the city, the public. That did not happen, and the “business case” the province has presented is extremely incomplete. It’s a case of cherry-picking facts.

For example? The costs associated with the new Science Centre don’t include the cost of the planned underground parking lot, which is astronomical—hundreds of millions of dollars. You can’t have a Science Centre without parking, so the costs aren’t reflecting reality. Meanwhile, we have the current facility, which was built in 1969. The firm that built the Science Centre, Moriyama Teshima Architects, has come forward to say that the building should last for 250 years with proper maintenance, and it has even offered to provide consulting for free. So the engineers are there, the architects are there, the funding is there—What’s holding the province back?

Any theories? There are certainly a lot of rumours flying around, but I’m trying to stick to the facts.

I’m not surprised to hear you say that. You were a highly respected science resource during the pandemic. I had no idea you were also a philanthropist. I have tried to keep my two lives separate, but now that’s kind of blown. My husband, Craig, was chief product officer at Shopify. He had a lot of success, which put us in a position to start the Vohra Miller Foundation. It’s focused on health: the health of the planet and the health of people. We fund STEM-related programming and initiatives for children in under-resourced communities, so this was an obvious fit for us. The Science Centre is located in the Thorncliffe and Flemingdon Park neighbourhoods and is an accessible resource for kids and parents all over the GTA. I think Craig and I had one text exchange about it and were like, of course we need to do this.

Have you heard anything from the province? Not a peep. I have been in contact with city councillors who are also outraged by what’s happening—Josh Matlow has introduced a bill for Toronto to take control of the property. I’ve also heard from other people who are interested in making donations. Some are other Shopify people, but there are also people who follow me on Instagram that want to make this a crowd-fund. There’s no question that we have the will, but still nothing from the province.

I’m sure you’ve seen the reports showing that hundreds of Toronto buildings have similar roof issues, but the province isn’t shutting them down. That’s part of what’s motivating us. If the province is bluffing, we are calling their bluff and forcing them to the table so that we can have an open conversation about how to move forward. The Science Centre was built with tax dollars, yet we’re being kept out of the process of determining its future. One thing that really irritates me is the province saying that moving the facility to a new downtown location will attract more tourists—the majority of people who visit the current facility are suburban families and school boards, who will be less likely to make the trip downtown. That’s who the Science Centre is for: the city’s next generation, so they can understand why science is so important in a way that’s fun and interactive. When you look at what’s going on in the world today—there is a growing ignorance of and even hostility toward science. Look at what’s happening to Anthony Fauci. It’s just so upsetting, and I think that engaging young people is the best way to fight back.

Do you think you’ve landed yourself a place on Doug Ford’s dartboard? Ha! I think I was already there during the pandemic. I spoke out quite a bit when the province was introducing policies that weren’t rooted in science, like shutting down parks. And we had a lot of success there—like when they reversed that decision.

If you’re not successful here, is there a scenario where you lead a protest? Chain yourself to the building? I really hope it doesn’t come to that. I think that, until the wrecking ball is on-site, things can be reversed. Look at what happened with the Greenbelt, where there was enough public dissent and pushback that we were able to reverse a decision the government had made without suitable consultation. There is so much support for this, from moms in particular—we are big mad.

If the premier thought the tree huggers were bad, wait until he sees the moms. That’s exactly what I told my husband. We are up in arms, and we’re not going to stop advocating for our children.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.