Science and Research Committee on Sept. 24th, 2026

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want the witnesses to know that I'll try to focus on issues that are closely related to the French-language research ecosystem, unlike my colleague, who always asks the same types of questions regardless of the topic of the day.

I'd like you to share your views on what's in the report. We don't have much time, so take about a minute each.

The report contains a number of recommendations, some of which apply specifically to the granting agencies, particularly in terms of visibility, the introduction of a new francophone lens and the evaluation of research grant applications in French.

You've talked about what's already being done, but now I'd like to hear some specifics about additional actions that could be taken in light of the report. In concrete terms, how would your organization implement the recommendations in the report?

Let's start with SSHRC.

[Sylvie Lamoureux]

Thank you very much for the question.

The report raises a lot of very important points and issues. We had the opportunity to appear before the committee during its study, and we read the report, which led to further reflection.

One of the concrete measures we're currently working on at SSHRC, bearing in mind that all of the agencies have a role to play, is creating a network of granting agencies within the francophonie to help foster relationships. Everyone knows that, internationally, people immediately think of English as a lingua franca. Nevertheless, how can we create real opportunities among granting agencies in countries that belong to the francophonie? This measure is already having an impact. We'd been giving it some thought, but the report gave us additional momentum to accelerate the work. The announcement of the Sommet de la Francophonie in 2028 supports these efforts, so I'll be going to Cambodia to continue the work we started in May.

I'll leave it there.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

Let's hear from NSERC about how it sees the report being implemented.

[Anne-Marie Thompson]

Thank you.

We already have measures in place. Ms. Cardinal mentioned in her report that all provincial governments and the federal government are helping to advance this work.

We have measures in place, but we also have recommendations around equitable access to funding, the quality of French-language assessment, data and transparency, as well as support for training, dissemination and knowledge mobilization. For us, as for the other agencies, it's really important to consider the entire ecosystem, not just our own progress. We are, of course, working on our open access policy. The goal is to improve the accessibility and discoverability of articles in French.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

Lastly, we'll go to CIHR.

[Chantal Marin-Comeau]

Thank you very much for the question.

I'm not going to repeat what my colleagues and counterparts have said. I'm going to focus more on working with communities.

We think the starting point is working with communities to identify real priorities. We want to put a bit more emphasis on collaborating with communities, including official language minority communities, and with researchers to ensure that our approach is appropriate. That's where a peer review committee comes in. Wherever there are gaps, we really want to strengthen the capacity of researchers through this collaboration. We also want to reach out to early-career researchers because the challenges facing the French-language research community have a bigger impact on them.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

Ms. Lamoureux, the recommendation in measure 9 is to “require bilingual…abstracts for articles published in SSHRC-funded journals.” How has this recommendation been received by your organization?

[Sylvie Lamoureux]

I would say that my organization's initial response is positive. We'll have to see how to operationalize everything and engage with communities. I think those are the next steps.

SSHRC has a long-running program to support scholarly journals. The other agencies don't have that, and it's something we can build on. I'm proud to say that, before the report came out, we had nearly doubled the funding for this program. A total of 176 journals will receive funding over the next three years, including 66 French-language journals and 51 bilingual ones. The remainder are English-language journals.

This is something to be discussed with the community. These discussions began several years ago, but the report will help us focus those discussions and identify specific solutions.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

Another measure involves implementing a francophone lens that will serve as a tool to measure your impact and support your work.

I'll start with NSERC.

How do you envision implementing a francophone lens within your organization to advance the work you do to support research in French?

[Anne-Marie Thompson]

As I believe you heard on Tuesday, and as my colleagues have said today, this is really about partnership for us. We know there are still challenges.

For example, what we would focus on is working with the Service d'aide à la recherche en français. We've had a lot of discussions already. We signed the memorandum of understanding in June, and it's already bearing fruit. We ensure that the members of our evaluation committees are aware of these issues so they truly understand what it means to promote French-language research and so the committees have a better understanding of what the potential benefits are. That's one example.

[Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you.

If I have more time later, I'll ask your other two colleagues questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you for that.

We will now proceed to MP Blanchette-Joncas for six minutes.

Please go ahead.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to welcome the witnesses who are with us today.

My first question is for Ms. Thompson.

The report does a good job of explaining the vicious cycle phenomenon. There are fewer applications in French because there are fewer reviewers who are able to understand the language in the first place and assess those applications.

In your view, should capacity to assess applications in French depend on the current number of applications, or should it be guaranteed at all times?

[Anne-Marie Thompson]

In our case, 27% of our committee members are francophone and 47% are bilingual. The goal is certainly to ensure that applications can be assessed in both official languages. Also, as you pointed out, organizations need the capacity to do that. We want to ensure equivalent assessment regardless of language.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

How can we achieve substantive equality if the people assessing the applications don't even speak one of the two official languages?

[Anne-Marie Thompson]

Well, as I said, 27% of committee members are francophone.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

In your view, equality isn't 50‑50; it's only 27%. Is that what you're saying?

[Anne-Marie Thompson]

At present, according to our policies and guidelines, the figure is 20%, but it is possible that, in light of the recommendations, we may review this request. That said, that's the situation for now.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

All right.

[Anne-Marie Thompson]

There are also policies we could look at regarding conflicts of interest and matters of that sort to create a broader committee.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

I understand.

I would now like to address our friends at the CIHR.

How do you explain that even today, in 2026, you are still unable to find people to assess applications in French?

[Chantal Marin-Comeau]

Thank you for your question.

I'd like to correct what you've just said.

Firstly, we have a large pool of peer reviewers capable of assessing applications in French. We have made considerable efforts in recent years. At present, 26% of reviewers are able to assess applications in French.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

So, around one in four people can assess applications in French.

Do you consider this to be true equality?

[Chantal Marin-Comeau]

Ms. Kirton, would you like to provide the statistics for—

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

The question, Ms. Marin‑Comeau, is this: When only one in four people in your organization who receive a request in French are able to assess it, do you consider this to be true equality?