Good evening, Madam Chair.
Thank you for inviting me to appear before the committee today.
I could have worn several hats this evening. You've discussed the field of ribonucleic acid, or RNA. I'm a researcher specializing in RNA and a co‑founder of the RiboClub, a group that, among other things, helped bring Moderna to Canada. I also could have addressed you as the president of Acfas, an organization that promotes science, research, innovation and scientific culture in the francophonie.
As vice-president for research and graduate studies at the Université de Sherbrooke, I mainly want to focus my remarks on graduate scholarships in Canada.
Canada is a modern country. Young people want to live in a knowledge-based society. To do that, we must invest in all the sciences, and I mean “all the sciences”, because all of them generate innovations that provide economic and social benefits. Investment in research is the key to our present and future, but I won't dwell on that topic because I realize I'm preaching to the choir.
That being said, it's critical that we invest in the next generation of researchers. That's the key to success. Students are the first links in the research and innovation chain. They do the research work in various laboratories and join research teams across the country. They are essential to our efforts in meeting our society's major challenges.
Once they graduate, approximately 20% of them will become academic researchers, while the remaining 80% will devote their talents and ideas to developing our organizations, businesses, communities and government departments. It's important to note that all of them will find jobs and that, in practice, there will be very little unemployment in their careers. As a result, they will work and contribute to society.
We also have to ask ourselves how we attracted them to graduate studies in the past. In 2003, we offered graduate scholarships of $17,500 a year for master's degrees and $21,000 a year for doctorates.
Scholarships help students pay for tuition, housing and food and mainly give them the means to focus entirely on their studies. It's also important to note that the scholarships offered by Canada's three granting councils set the standard for the country. All other organizations tend toward that norm.
Incidentally, in 2003, the poverty line in Canada was $16,000 a year. Scholarship amounts were thus slightly above the poverty line. I'm sure you can see me coming here. The cost of food and accommodation, among other things, has definitely increased, particularly as a result of the rapid inflation we've experienced in the past few months. I would remind you that scholarships are offered to our champions, the best of our education system.
The poverty line today is over $20,000 a year. Most scholarships haven't been increased since 2003. What we are offering students now is an invitation to live below the poverty line. Does that motivate anyone to pursue an education? I doubt it. Is this really what we want for our students? I doubt that as well.
While I'm sure the salaries of our elected representatives have risen and been indexed to the cost of living over the years, the scholarships offered to our best students, the scholarship holders of our three councils, have not been indexed since 2003. And yet, when I used the Bank of Canada calculator last night to determine the increase in inflation from 2003 to 2022, the result was 44.4%. In other words, the $17,500 scholarship in 2003 should be worth more than $25,000 a year today.
The Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire, or BCI, which focuses on research and innovation, is a Quebec organization. BCI has suggested that, under Quebec's research and innovation investment strategy, those scholarships be increased to $25,000 a year for master's degrees and $35,000 a year for doctorates.
We are betraying the talent pool that will produce future innovation in this country.
Students today are increasingly forced to find jobs in order to make ends meet. In so doing, they focus less on graduate studies, thus extending the time it takes to complete their education and jeopardizing future development, research and innovation.
Thank you for your attention.