Thank you, Madam Chair.
Research in French is one of the driving forces behind the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, or ACUFC, and its 22 members located in eight provinces and one territory. Several ACUFC initiatives, such as the Réseau national de formation en justice, the Réseau de recherche sur la francophonie canadienne, the Consortium national de formation en santé or, more recently, the Observatoire de la formation en petite enfance, play a pivotal role in the production and mobilization of knowledge in French across Canada.
Federal investments in research definitely have a real impact on priority sectors of the Canadian economy and lead to direct benefits in francophone minority communities. Many researchers in our network work on topics of national interest, such as education, health and justice, but through a francophone lens.
However, the French-language science and research ecosystem in francophone minority communities is facing complex challenges that you've already heard about, such as precarious conditions, structural inequities and an accentuated decline in French-language publishing. Without concrete positive measures to reduce language and institutional barriers, particularly in the assessment process, in the exploitation of language data and in the discoverability of scientific content, the current imbalance will only exacerbate persistent inequities and undermine the vitality of francophone communities. That's why we need to rethink how we evaluate, support and invest in research in French in Canada.
The federal granting councils must assume their full responsibility by fully implementing their obligations under the Official Languages Act. Many studies have raised the anglicization of research, the internationalization of research objects and the predominance of publishing articles in English in Canada. These trends, which cast doubt on the excellence of research in French, help standardize scientific production rather than encourage research that meets local data needs.
As the Government of Canada engages in major national projects and building a more unified Canadian economy, it is important that all segments of the population can benefit. That's why the research excellence criteria must allow research in French and research on francophone minority communities to fully participate in these efforts.
The granting councils must actively develop an organizational culture that promotes and recognizes excellence in the production and mobilization of knowledge in French. Despite trends, they must adopt positive measures to ensure that research in French contributes to the vitality of francophone communities. They are also meeting emerging challenges and have increased data needs, which the ACUFC members in the French-language research community want to address. The research that answers these questions has scope, relevance and concrete effects.
However, despite efforts, the assessment of excellence is not immune to linguistic and institutional biases. ACUFC members come from urban, rural and remote areas. They are small, medium or large institutions. Awareness and training about unconscious bias in research conducted in French and in the interest of francophone communities are essential. The perpetuation of these biases in the criteria and evaluation hinders the development of a culture of research in French across the country. The federal granting councils are required to aim for substantive equality between the linguistic communities in the deployment of their programs.
We would also like to echo the testimony of Colleges and Institutes Canada as part of this study. Expanding college eligibility for granting council funding is imperative. The colleges of the Canadian francophonie are making a bold contribution to building a single Canadian economy. The research they conduct is in partnership with local francophone businesses and organizations and contributes to the training of a highly sought-after francophone and bilingual workforce. The granting councils must build on this new strength of colleges in cutting-edge fields and recognize the research excellence that emerges from it.
I will conclude my remarks with two recommendations.
First, I recommend that the granting councils adopt a real plan for implementing their obligations under the Official Languages Act, which includes positive measures aimed at recognizing research excellence in French.
Second, I recommend that the granting councils undertake a strategic review of their policies and programs with a view to reducing linguistic and institutional biases that undermine scientific production in French.