Good morning. My name is Anna Toneguzzo, and I am acting vice-president, government and stakeholder partnerships at Colleges and Institutes Canada, or CICan.
Before I begin, I want to thank the members of the committee for the opportunity to appear. I also want to acknowledge that I am speaking to you on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation.
CICan represents over 140 colleges, CEGEPs, polytechnics and institutes, as well as—it may surprise you—10 universities across Canada. We drive knowledge, build capacity and advance the growth of our sector and the contributions we can make to the Canadian economy and Canadian society. In fact, tens of thousands of students at colleges contributed to applied research projects in 2019-20—an average of six per project—with many going on to roles in which they directly or indirectly support research, both basic and applied, be it at institutions, in government or in industry.
Let me be very clear: CICan is supportive of improving the amounts offered to promising scholars under the Canada graduate scholarship and post-doctoral fellowship programs. It is important that Canada keep pace with the increasing competition for talent and highly qualified personnel in science and research, both at colleges and universities. These awards have not seen an increase in about two decades, while inflation since then has reduced the real value of the awards by almost half. As a matter of both fairness and competitiveness, it is imperative that the government act to correct the situation.
A doctoral program involves years of intense study and high expectations. The tri-council currently asks students to take on this immense challenge on a stipend of either $21,000 or $35,000 per year, if any. In contrast, in 2021 the median income in Canada was $68,400.
That is for students who are fortunate enough to receive one of these awards. With only a few thousand of these awards available, in contrast to about 280,000 graduate students studying in Canada, the conversation we are having today is a small subset of a broader issue.
I'll use the remainder of my time by inviting the committee to consider the role colleges can play in promoting higher education and research. Approximately 120 colleges in Canada are eligible for tri-council funding, and many have active applied research programs.
Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows can play a role in supporting colleges' applied research and still have the time they need to conduct and advance their own research. This expertise could be highly complementary to the expertise, equipment and capacity already available in nearly 700 college research centres and laboratories across Canada.
Colleges are hiring more and more full-time researchers to support their growing applied research activities. It's a unique learning and educational environment with great potential for hosting graduate students on exchange with their home institutions, as well as post-doctoral fellows looking to both advance their own research and improve their skills to be ready for industry. In fact, some colleges and CEGEPs are already doing so. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the other two councils should consider ways to make sure graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are well supported in their studies.
I believe it is more important than ever to examine the way we can bring the post-secondary sector more closely together. This is one such example of an innovative way we could contribute to that goal.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to your questions.