Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee.
On behalf of the president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Alejandro Adem, I am pleased to be here today to provide remarks to support your important study.
I'm joined here today by Marcel Turcot, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's vice-president for strategic, corporate and public affairs.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, or NSERC, joins its federal partners in recognizing the excellent work of the external advisory panel on the creation and dissemination of scientific information in French.
NSERC and the other federal research funding agencies collaborated with Canadian Heritage and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to support the work of the advisory panel by participating in meetings and responding to requests for data and information.
We have taken note of the recommendations set out in the report submitted to the Minister responsible for Official Languages. NSERC will remain attentive to the government's response to the report and will continue to work with its federal partners to support priorities arising from it, in accordance with its mandate. This mandate is grounded in supporting research excellence, talent and innovation in natural sciences and engineering in both official languages across Canada.
NSERC invests more than $1.5 billion annually in natural sciences and engineering research, supporting over 185 post-secondary institutions across the country, including more than 65 francophone or bilingual institutions.
Our investments support internationally recognized, discovery-driven research across a broad range of fields, contributing to Canada’s global scientific standing, including within the international Francophonie.
We also support the next generation of researchers and the highly qualified workforce who contribute to Canada's prosperity, and we foster partnerships with public, private and not-for-profit sector organizations to transform discoveries into tangible benefits for communities, the economy and Canada's strategic sectors. For example, NSERC's long-standing investments in artificial intelligence and quantum science have helped support pioneering research that has shaped these fields on the world stage.
Among the researchers supported by these investments are francophone researchers Yoshua Bengio and Gilles Brassard of the Université de Montréal, whose globally recognized contributions earned them each the prestigious Turing Award, in 2018 and 2025, respectively.
The contribution of francophone researchers and francophone and bilingual institutions to the excellence and visibility of Canadian research is undeniable.
NSERC supports equitable access to its programs, ensures bilingual merit review, and promotes the recognition of French language research, including in minority-language contexts.
NSERC also implements its obligations under part VII of the Official Languages Act by considering the impacts of its programs and policies on official language minority communities and by taking positive measures to enhance their vitality and to protect and promote the French language.
We are proud to have recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Acfas's French-language research assistance service, which provides guidance to researchers in minority francophone contexts to facilitate the preparation of funding applications in French and support their full participation in funding opportunities.
We also support science promotion activities in French and integrate francophone perspectives into the development of our policies and programs.
NSERC and the other federal granting agencies continue to modernize Canada's research funding ecosystem through initiatives such as the implementation of the Tri-agency grants management solution, the integration of the San Francisco declaration on research assessment, or DORA, principles into research assessment practices, the adoption of a new narrative CV, and the revision of the open access policy on publications.
In alignment with the concerns raised by the external advisory panel, these initiatives aim to improve access to funding opportunities, promote a more inclusive approach to the assessment of research excellence, and enhance the accessibility, dissemination and discoverability of research results.
These initiatives, together with reflections stemming from the recommendations of the external advisory panel and the work of this committee, will contribute to discussions about how to better support French-language research and the vitality of francophone research communities.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
Mr. Turcot and I are available to answer your questions and provide any clarifications you require.