Evidence of meeting #20 for Science and Research in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was researchers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:15 p.m.
Vice-President, Research Grants and Scholarships Directorate, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
For every funding program, we examine the data every year, whether through a language-, region- or EDI-based lens. We scrutinize every program through each of those lenses.
9:15 p.m.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Madam Chair, I would like to let Mr. Fortin know that, if there's anything he wants to add, he can send the information in writing to the committee—data, recommendations, reports, analysis or anything at all.
9:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kirsty Duncan
Monsieur Blanchette-Joncas, if you have a question, you can table it, but your time is up. We have to be fair to everyone.
With that, we will go to Monsieur Lauzon for five minutes. The floor is yours.
9:20 p.m.
Liberal
Stéphane Lauzon Liberal Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Matta and Mr. Fortin. Your remarks have been quite informative.
Mr. Matta, thank you for the history lesson on French-language research. We've learned a lot today.
You mentioned the emergence of the United States as a superpower.
What impact does that superpower have on Canada when it comes to the publication of research in French?
How does that superpower influence our researchers? When they want to gain visibility in the United States and around the world, they feel compelled to publish their work in English.
Can you comment on that?
9:20 p.m.
Professor, Mount Saint Vincent University, As an Individual
I'm going to come at it from a different angle, if you don't mind.
9:25 p.m.
Professor, Mount Saint Vincent University, As an Individual
As a counterbalance, I think it's important to join forces culturally and scientifically with all the French-speaking countries, but mainly France, Belgium, Switzerland and the francophone countries in Africa.
As someone in the previous panel mentioned, the world is home to hundreds of millions of French speakers. I don't know the exact number, but there is a critical mass of French speakers that can counterbalance the critical mass of the English-speaking population. It's not about comparing the two or pitting them against one another; it's about complementing one another.
Why not join forces with our counterparts in France, Africa and Europe to create a top-tier French-language journal equivalent to Science, Nature and other such academic journals in the English-speaking world?
The articles could come with an English-language abstract, something longer than usual, to make the research more accessible to the English-speaking world.
I'm not sure whether that answers your question adequately, but thank you for asking.
9:25 p.m.
Liberal
Stéphane Lauzon Liberal Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC
Yes, it does.
You mentioned your relationship with the Académie africaine des sciences. You know the organization quite well.
Can you share some of the challenges the researchers there encounter as far as the decline of French-language publications in Africa is concerned? I'm talking about issues that would be comparable to ours.
Does Africa have the same problems we do? Are their data similar to ours?
9:25 p.m.
Professor, Mount Saint Vincent University, As an Individual
I don't have any figures or data I can give you.
I can tell you that I was on one of the academy's selection committees this year, and we interviewed the 90 finalists in a pan-African competition for research funding.
A good chunk of the funding applications were submitted in French by Africans, whether in northern Africa, the Maghreb region or sub-Saharan Africa. I don't recall the exact number, but I would say a third or a quarter of the applications were written in French.
I think the success rate was comparable to that for English-language funding applications. The Académie africaine des sciences is a good example of development potential.
9:25 p.m.
Liberal
Stéphane Lauzon Liberal Argenteuil—La Petite-Nation, QC
Very good.
Now I want to turn to the role of regional universities in promoting the French language.
Keep in mind that, historically, Nova Scotia was home to an Acadian population, and it disappeared over time. What role could a regional university play in supporting the francophone community?
Nova Scotia has just one French-language university, Université Sainte‑Anne.
How might that university play a key role in reviving the publication of research in French?
9:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kirsty Duncan
Mr. Lauzon, in the interest of fairness I have to be fair with you. I have to be fair with Mr. Blanchette-Joncas. Your time is up. Might you ask the witness if he could table an answer for you?
9:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kirsty Duncan
Thank you so very much.
Dear colleagues, and to our witnesses, we thank you for being here tonight. We've come to the end of our time together. We thank you for your time and your expertise. We will have to say goodbye to our witnesses now. We thank you. We hope you've had a good experience and you will want to come back.
To our parliamentary colleagues, I need two minutes of your time, please.
Again, thank you to our witnesses.
Dear colleagues, if I could have your attention for one final item before our meeting comes to a close, last week we circulated a proposed budget in the amount of $7,550 for the study on research and scientific publication in French. Is there a motion to adopt this study budget?
9:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Kirsty Duncan
With that, thank you to everyone and everyone who joined the committee, all our witnesses.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 24, at 6:30. I'll see you all then.
Thank you so much. The meeting is adjourned.
