With the latest release of Jeffrey Epstein’s emails, new light has been shed on the relationships that he maintained over many years with leading academics. One of those is Lee Smolin, co-founder and faculty member of Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute, who had a long-term professional and personal relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. 

While unfortunate, this is not in itself grounds for censure. Epstein actively courted the smartest people in the world and held legitimate scientific conferences. It is important to be clear of the difference between association and guilt, as Epstein’s modus operandi was to cloak his crimes in legitimacy.

In 2001, Smolin co-founded the Perimeter insitute. In 2003, Smolin appears in Epstein’s infamous “birthday book” (page 194), his personal message and photos alongside others from Epsteins best friends and underage victims. Smolin has maintained (in comments to the press and confirmed by his Academic CV) that his primary source of funding during this time (2001-2003) was $300,000 a year from the "Jesse Philips Foundation" (Now the Jesse and Caryl Philips Foundation) . However, the foundation has no record of given him any amount of money in its tax filings for 2001, or 2002. 

In Smolin's own words:

“For many years my research was comfortably funded by the National Science Foundation, for which I remain very thankful. But I was extraordinarily fortunate to encounter someone who asked me, ‘What would you really like to do? What is your most ambitious and crazy idea?’ Then, unexpectedly and generously, Jeffrey Epstein gave me the chance to try to make good on my answers, and for this, I shall always be deeply grateful” (2010, Epstein’s “endorsements” web page).

Regardless of where he got his money from, by the time of Epstein’s conviction and incarceration in 2008, to have no awareness of the allegations, or the possibility they were true, is simply not plausible. By that point, continuing to help Epstein with his charade of being a philanthropist for personal gain. after knowing he has been convicted of sex crimes against minors, is clearly highly unethical.  

Lee Smolin clearly understands this, as he has lied, brazenly, and repeatedly, about the timeline and the fact that he enthusiastically maintained a personal connection to Epstein throughout Epstein’s conviction and incarceration. In 2019, Smolin claimed to the Verge:

“I have not seen Mr. Epstein since a scientific conference in 2007, and I’ve had no contact with him since 2008.”

Then to the Globe and Mail recently, he stated that his last contact with Epstein was even longer ago and he further diminished his connection:

"Mr. Smolin said he could not remember exactly when he last communicated with Mr. Epstein, but remembered seeing him at a 2003 TED Conference."

Recently, went even further back in an email to the Waterloo Record, where he claimed: 

"My entire relationship with Epstein preceded my moving to Canada and beginning my position with pi (Perimeter Institute) in 2001,” wrote Smolin."

All of this has now been flatly contradicted by the evidence of a steady stream of lovely notes over a decade between the two men, attempts to catch up that Smolin initiated, as well as setting up time to chat on the phone and attempting to find opportunities to meet in person.  

The truth, as evidenced by emails in the most recent document release of the Epstein files, is that Smolin:

• Continued to correspond with Epstein about Perimeter Institute events, knowing that he was in jail in 2009.
• Sought to meet Epstein soon after he got out of jail but had to wait until 2011 in Newark.
• Professed his long-distance personal friendship via emails and phone calls until at least 2013, and continued trying to interest Epstein in his scientific work.
• Lied to journalists repeatedly investigating Epstein's crimes about what he knew.

To be clear, there is no suggestion of any illegal acts by Mr. Smolin in his dealings with Mr. Epstein. However, he has clearly displayed a profound lack of ethical judgment, as well as a consistent pattern of deceit to try and avoid taking responsibility for his actions.

This behaviour is clearly not befitting a member of the Royal Society of Canada. Furthermore, Mr. Smolin is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and there is precedent for stripping that for someone for departing significantly from accepted standards of public behavior.

Canadians expect more of our public figures than the current trend of plausible deniability. It matters little if Smolin knew or simply should have known better as he continued to seek personal benefit from his personal relationship with one of the worst sexual offenders of our time. That happened and Mr. Smolin has lied repeatedly about his role despite multiple chances to come clean. In doing so he has failed to maintain the standard of ethics required of these public honours and awards, and we demand that he be stripped of them immediately.