Good evening, and thank you.
I would like to begin by acknowledging that I am joining you this evening from the unceded and traditional territory of the Algonquin people.
I’m very grateful for the invitation to be here tonight on behalf of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. We represent 72,000 faculty, academic librarians and professional staff at more than 120 post-secondary institutions in all provinces across the country.
As an organization, we're uniquely positioned to comment on the issue of the recruitment and retention of researchers and scientists in Canada because our members are scientists and researchers themselves. They're also the teachers and instructors training the next generation of researchers and scientists.
As everyone on the committee knows, it is the higher education sector that does much of the heavy lifting when it comes to Canada's gross domestic expenditures on research and development, and this is a strength we can build on.
The investments we make in university and college research equips us to better understand the social and natural world in which we live so that we can tackle the many social, environmental, economic and public health challenges we face. We can spur innovation and enhance the quality of life for all Canadians.
In budget 2018, the government made significant investments to boost basic research funding, but there remains more distance to go to close the gap identified by the government's expert panel on fundamental science. To continue to attract and retain academic research talent, we need to continue to invest in basic university research, because this is vital for scientific advancement that leads to innovation.
While quick-to-market applications of science are appealing in the short term, fundamental world-changing science and innovation are rarely predictable and most often emerge from longer-term and fundamental discoveries driven by scientific curiosity.
Think of the 19th century Irish physicist John Tyndall, who asked the question, “Why is the sky blue?” That simple question led Tyndall to the discovery of basic properties of light that paved the way eventually for the development of lasers and other innovations. More recently, think of the basic science that underpins the mRNA vaccine platform, or the discovery of properties of magnetism that was necessary to develop MRIs.
We have a strong foundation in the higher education sector, but there are cracks emerging that I want to focus on. One of the biggest is related to the ongoing shift toward precarious employment at our post-secondary institutions.
As you've heard from others, full-time tenure-track academic employment provides the necessary stability needed for longer-term academic research. However, by our estimates, more than a third of academic staff, who are also highly educated researchers, are now employed on short-term teaching-only contracts. Because it's teaching only, it means their research potential is largely untapped, and even if they want to pursue research on their own time, obstacles remain. Without tenure or a tenure-track appointment, it's difficult, if not impossible, for contract academic staff to secure research grants through the federal funding agencies. Facing this uncertainty, many contract staff may abandon research altogether. Graduate students may question the attractiveness of the profession.
Finally, I'd like to emphasize that we need good-quality data about the entire academic staff workforce to fully understand its composition and challenges. Right now, Statistics Canada’s university and college academic staff system survey, a survey that collects data on academics and Canada’s research talent in universities, currently does not capture any information for contract academic staff, those working at colleges or any employment equity data beyond gender. Without this data, we simply don't know about the full composition of our academic research community, or what barriers may exist that prevent the full participation of all. Expanding this survey would greatly assist us in understanding the academic research workforce, how to better support our researchers and how best to harness their potential.
In conclusion, I want to reiterate that the higher education sector is essential to Canada's research future. Compared to other OECD countries, it is our strength that we need to build on. We must ensure that academic researchers, those in early career stages or those who are already established, are afforded decent working conditions, job security and equitable opportunities. These are essential if we are to attract and retain research talent. The federal government can play an important role in building upon this strength and foundation with clear action and support for academic researchers and for basic science.
Thank you.
