Mr. Chairman, thank you for inviting me to speak to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages about the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council's activities relating to official languages.
The Council, or SSHRC, is the federal agency that promotes and supports university-based research and training in the humanities and social sciences. We enable the highest levels of research excellence in Canada and facilitate knowledge-sharing and collaboration across research disciplines, universities and all sectors of society.
In delivering on our mandate, SSHRC's key value is in ensuring that the people and the research we fund is of world-class excellence. We ensure this excellence by our process for awarding grants and scholarships: that is, through national competitions using a rigourous system of independent peer review.
SSHRC supports official-language minority communities and bilingualism in two important ways: first, by ensuring that SSHRC's peer review and adjudication processes are structured such that applications received in either official language will be fairly assessed; and second, by supporting research that furthers our knowledge and understanding of the social, legal, educational, cultural and economic issues related to bilingualism and minority language communities.
Indeed, these issues fall squarely within SSHRC's mandate to fund, and, as I will elaborate, Canada's social sciences and humanities research community has developed world-class expertise in these areas.
I should also say that I am very privileged to be next to two examples of the research talent we have here in Canada. We may have an opportunity to benefit from the presence here this morning of experienced researchers working for the University of Ottawa. It is very encouraging to see them here with us.
Service delivery in the official language of the applicant's choice is particularly important to SSHRC as a research-granting agency. Applicants to SSHRC must have confidence that the intellectual content of their research proposal is fully understood and fairly assessed, regardless of the official language used in the application. Sensitive to these concerns, SSHRC is careful to ensure that the adjudication committees are composed of anglophone and francophone members from across Canada who have the ability to read and understand orally the other language. Adjudication committees are composed mainly of academic experts who volunteer their time as a service to the community.
When it comes to the research and research-related activities that SSHRC funds, Canada's social sciences and humanities research community has developed a particular capacity that deserves mention.
In 2004-2005, in partnership with Canadian Heritage, SSHRC launched a new, three-year program to support research questions related to official languages and bilingualism. The idea was to mobilize the social sciences and humanities research community in Canada to address this very distinctly Canadian issue. The community stepped up to this challenge, and over the three years, 52 projects were funded, for a total investment of $3 million.
We distributed to you today a compendium of SSHRC-funded research awarded in 2007-2008—this is something we produce annually as part of our report on our implementation of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act, a report which is available on our website. Funding allocated for research projects in 2007-2008 amounted to roughly $3.4 million. In addition, there are 19 Canada Research Chairs focused on issues related to official languages and bilingualism. In other words, this is a robust topic of research in Canada, and the research itself is of top quality.
The compendium you have is full of research topics of direct interest to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages.
Over the past decade or so, SSHRC has actively promoted research that links scholars and communities, particularly through a program we call community-university research alliances, or CURAs. This program funds partnerships between university-based researchers and community-based organizations on a research topic of mutual interest. The community-based organization is a full partner in the research, participating in every stage of the project. Because community partners are present and engaged at the very beginning, it is more likely that the outcomes of the project will be relevant and useful to the communities. CURAs receive up to $1 million over five years.
I would like to describe two projects that were recently awarded CURA grants.
In 2007-2008, a large team of researchers, led by Léonard Rivard at the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, launched a project entitled: “Identités francophones de l’Ouest canadien: définition,valorisation et transmission”. The research team includes researchers from the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, Concordia University, the Université de Moncton and the University of Alberta as well as partners, such as the Fédération des conseils scolaires francophones de l’Alberta, the Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta and the Fédération des parents francophones de l’Alberta.
Here is another example. In 2008-2009, in the most recent CURA competition, a team of researchers led by Linda Cardinal at the University of Ottawa was awarded a grant for a project entitled: “Les savoirs de la gouvernance communautaire: de nouvelles modalités d’action pour la francophonie canadienne et les minorités linguistiques.” Partners on this project include the Association of French-Speaking Jurists of Ontario, the Fédération de la jeunesse franco-ontarienne and the Observatoire sur la gouvernance de l'Ontario français.
In 2007, SSHRC engaged in the Commissioner of Official Languages' initiative to identify best practices of federal granting agencies to effectively promote linguistic duality and the vitality of official-language minority communities. The Commissioner released a report on this initiative in January of 2008, and we will be using the report's recommendations to develop our new Multi-Year Action Plan for the Implementation of Section 41 of the Official Languages Act. We have been working closely with representatives from Canadian Heritage throughout this process, and have hired Ronald Bisson and Associates, an experienced consulting firm, to assist us with this important initiative. SSHRC will also be consulting the official-language minority communities on the Action Plan. SSHRC recognizes that renewing our Action Plan represents a real opportunity to develop new and creative positive measures that can be taken in the support of official languages and the vitality of official-language minority communities in Canada.
The focus of my remarks today has been on how the Canadian social sciences and humanities research community contributes to the important questions this committee investigates. SSHRC is proud to be a key enabler of the development of new, world-class knowledge, understanding, and expertise on issues of bilingualism and official language minority communities. Questions addressed by the social sciences and humanities community help Canada as a whole and its linguistic communities to define and address issues vital to their identities, their social, cultural, and economic development, and their futures.
I look forward to your questions on this and other aspects of SSHRC support for bilingualism and official-language minority communities.
Thank you.