Thank you, Madam Chair, for inviting me to speak on behalf of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, or SSHRC. I'm joined by my colleague, Tim Wilson, the associate vice‑president of the social sciences and humanities programs, along with our counterparts from the two other federal research funding agencies.
SSHRC's primary mandate is to fund research and research training in the social sciences and humanities, ensuring that Canada has the ideas and skills necessary to address both the problems of today and the challenges of tomorrow. We also administer, on behalf of the three agencies, a number of prominent research programs. These programs include the New Frontiers in Research fund and the Eddie Goldenberg research chairs of Canada, which support all disciplines and drive innovative and impactful research.
SSHRC is currently going through a leadership transition. We're fortunate to have Normand Labrie, the president of the Université de l'Ontario français and normally our council chair, as our interim president. As a francophone who is deeply committed to enriching the French research enterprise, Mr. Labrie is a strong ally. The same can be said about Éric Montpetit, our interim council chair who is also the vice‑dean of research in the faculty of arts and science at the Université de Montréal.
Mr. Labrie, Mr. Montpetit and I, in my capacity as chief operating officer and vice‑president of research at SSHRC, are all deeply committed—both personally and professionally—to the vitality of French‑language research in Canada and of our francophone communities, as well as to the post‑secondary institutions that serve them.
I would very much like to thank this committee for its continued support of research in French. I would also like to thank members of the external advisory panel, who worked tirelessly on the recently released report on that topic. I applaud the quality of their work, and I appreciate the time they took to engage with SSHRC and consider our feedback while drafting it.
We have taken note of the report’s recommendations, and we are coordinating with members of the Canada research coordinating committee and other relevant interlocutors to discuss next steps while taking mandates, resources and the needs of the research community into consideration.
We recognize that some decisions will occur outside of the federal research funding agencies, particularly decisions with respect to new measures. We are fully committed to collaborating on new measures as best we can.
The vitality of the francophone research community is an asset to the Canadian research ecosystem and to Canada as a whole. SSHRC takes to heart its obligations in relation to the Official Languages Act, whether it be providing access to services in both of Canada’s official languages, nurturing and supporting official language minority communities, or promoting and protecting the French language.
SSHRC works hard to ensure a robust merit review process for all funding applications received, regardless of the official language. Overall, applications submitted in French have success rates comparable to—or even higher than—the applications submitted in English.
From 2021 to 2025, SSHRC invested approximately $37.3 million in research on official languages and related topics. This funding supported 444 projects, 831 researchers, 197 graduate students and five Canada research chairs on the topic.
We also provide institutional support measures; make investments in official languages research and research relevant to francophone communities; and undertake initiatives to ensure the dissemination, discoverability and mobilization of research in French, including through our support for French‑language journals and platforms such as Érudit. We also support various awards that recognize outstanding French research as well as knowledge mobilization efforts.
SSHRC has been active internationally. We're exploring ways to help connect francophone researchers in Canada with colleagues in other countries of the global francophonie.
In short, SSHRC is deeply committed to supporting and enhancing a vibrant French-language research enterprise in and across Canada. Dr. Wilson and I are happy to answer, in the official language of your choice, any questions you may have.
Thank you.