Bonsoir, Madam Chair.
Thank you for your invitation to appear before this committee and also for your long-standing leadership in science and research.
I'm very proud to appear before you today as president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council since 2015. I'm also a career academic, working in Canada and internationally, including for many years as the senior university administrator, principally in the research field.
In these various roles, I've had the privilege to observe from different perspectives the many changes in the Canadian research system that have occurred over the past three decades.
At the beginning of the century, the major investments that were made in key national research programs created a solid foundation to attract talent to Canada and retain it.
This made it possible to build research expertise in Canada and gave the country's research councils the momentum to endure, grow and prosper.
Research spending by subsequent governments helped sustain that healthy growth.
I believe that Canada's academic research system today is robust. It's a system that rests on three key pillars, which are critical to its stability and success. First, of course, is the research itself, the projects, the formulation, the execution of research plans. Second are the people, not just the researchers but the new talent that's being developed at all levels in the system. Third are the research tools, the buildings, the infrastructure, and the equipment. Thanks to investments and a good balance of fundamental and strategic research over the past several decades and enhanced coordination within the research enterprise in recent years within the Canada Research Coordinating Committee, I believe that Canada is increasingly well served in all three of these pillars.
Could the system be strengthened? It could absolutely. The research enterprise and society have awakened to the critical need to break down the real barriers that exist to equity, diversity and inclusion and to advancing reconciliation with indigenous peoples through strengthening indigenous research capacity and research training. We must continue to advance multidisciplinary as well as international collaboration and effective channels to mobilize research knowledge, because we need the contribution of all Canadians to generate, deliver and share research if we're going to avoid jeopardizing innovation, technologies, commercial products and sound public policy.
As president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, or SSHRC, I want to underscore the essential role social sciences and humanities research plays in maximizing the benefits of science. The social sciences and humanities encompass a wide range of research fields, all of which are human-centred.
Innovation is about more than just technology and patents. The development, implementation, commercialization and adoption of new technologies are human factors that are greatly affected by humanities and social sciences elements. Science and technology don't happen on their own. They do not determine the merits of exploring a given technological path. People do, and that's where the crucial role of social sciences and humanities research comes into play, broadening our understanding of other humans and societies.
Canadians' social science and social sciences and humanities research are helping to address some of the most critical challenges we as a society face domestically and globally, be those pandemic recovery, economic growth, environmental sustainability, affordable housing or reconciliation. Fundamentally it's about building and sustaining a just and prosperous society. People are at the heart of what drives our future. We are well positioned to build and capitalize on Canada's strength across the disciplinary array in the social sciences, and in humanities in particular, and to build the Canada we want and need for today and tomorrow.
Thank you.