Thank you, Mr. Chair
Hello, everyone.
I'm Sébastien Paquette, and I'm here on behalf of the Association du personnel de la recherche du Québec. The role of the APRQ is to help reduce the precariousness of research personnel and to recognize their contribution to university research throughout Quebec. I was pleased to accept the invitation to testify before the committee on the subject of research funding for post-doctoral researchers. Please note that I no longer use the term “trainee” as it is considered prejudicial and demeaning to our members. Indeed, the term “trainee” has too often been used to legitimize poor working conditions, denying our members recognition as highly qualified research personnel.
What do post-doctoral researchers do on a daily basis? They conduct one or more research projects, be it a purely academic project or an industrial partnership. Because of the experience they have gained in their own doctoral research, post-doctoral researchers supervise students in research internships, at the master's or doctoral level. In some laboratories, students rely on post-doctoral fellows much more than on professors, who are the official supervisors. Post-doctoral researchers are often the ones who write the most scientific papers in a laboratory. In addition, they help professors write the grant applications that guarantee their survival. In short, the tasks are very similar to those of research professionals or early career professors. There is no doubt that they are needed in a laboratory, and that's why professors wouldn't consider doing without these employees, whose status has only existed since the late 1990s.
However, whether it's through a scholarship from granting agencies or through the research funds of the professors who hire them, which more often than not come from the same granting agencies, the status of post-doctoral researchers remains precarious. This precariousness stems from the nature of the job, which is a transitional period under a fixed-term contract, but also, and above all, from the low amounts of funding. Indeed, the amount of the current scholarships and research funds doesn't generally give post-doctoral students a salary that can compete with what is offered by private industry or other universities in Europe or the United States. In fact, were it not for the recent unionization of post-doctoral researchers, it would likely be more lucrative for them to work for the legislated minimum wage. The current salary for post-doctoral researchers is simply not enough to live on or to attract talent from abroad.
When an older colleague told me about his post-doctoral fellowship in 1996, I realized that the fellowship amounts available today have not kept pace with inflation. Even before the record inflation rates of the last two years, the indexation did not keep up. Scholarship amounts, which become taxable salaries, typically range from $40,000 to, in very rare cases, $80,000 per year. From these amounts, universities often subtract employer expenses and some equipment costs, lowering the gross salary amount by about 25% from what was advertised prior to hiring. Unfortunately, the employee won't know this until they begin their employment.
Many post-doctoral researchers work many more hours than they are paid for. This comes with the precarious nature of the job and the need to build a career with good references. Increased scholarships and salary floors therefore remain the best means of ensuring a level of compensation per hour worked that meets the minimum principles of the law. Universities pride themselves on their research reputation, but this reputation wouldn't be possible without the contribution of post-doctoral researchers, and should not be achieved at the cost of precariousness.
Collective agreements negotiated by the unions have resulted in salary floors for post-doctoral fellows. This floor currently ranges from $33,000 to $48,000 per year. In some cases, professors who hire post-docs whose scholarship is too low must make up the difference using their research funds. This is still not enough, and not all post-doctoral researchers are fortunate enough to have union protection. Furthermore, having to make up a gap to meet an already low minimum wage is a further indication of the inadequacy of post-doctoral fellowships.
In light of this, I advocate for a massive reinvestment in post-doctoral fellowships, while ensuring a significant increase in project-based funding.
Society should provide post-doctoral researchers with decent working conditions, consistent with their high level of expertise and their essential contribution to the advancement of science and the training of future professionals. This will also make Canadian universities more competitive with other countries, enabling them to attract and retain these highly qualified professionals.