Official Languages committee  Thank you. I referred in my remarks to a poll conducted in 2020, according to which 90% of the clientele wanted to stay in Canada. In that same study, international clients were asked about the types of services they had received from their postsecondary institutions. The vast majority of them fortunately said they wanted to stay in Canada because they felt they had been well received, welcomed and supported by their postsecondary institutions, but there are still deficiencies that must be addressed, with regard to cultural competencies, for example.

Official Languages committee  If the overall objective, as outlined in the Official Languages Act, is to increase the demographic weight of francophones, we'd have no business choosing the communities that deserve an increase in demographic weight. I understand that successful integration often depends on institutional completeness.

Official Languages committee  Of course. You have to understand that postsecondary institutions are called upon to play many roles in welcoming foreign students, ranging from recruitment to support for study permits, intake, housing, integration and even fitting in with the communities to ensure that the students have an enriching academic experience on our campuses.

Official Languages committee  I find the idea interesting, but I think there has to be a pre-established system for international students that would have credibility abroad and, at the very least, entail some coordination in application processing. Yes, we could imagine a system that would give precedence to the processing of study permit applications from francophone students.

Official Languages committee  The postsecondary institutions devote considerable time and effort to recruiting, taking in, training, retaining and supporting the international clientele as they settle in the communities. Governments have a collective responsibility to ensure that they can continue this work, particularly in circumstances in which francophone immigration targets will increase.

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much. I want to thank you for your invitation to participate in the committee's work. Canada has introduced policies that are designed to promote the recruitment and intake of the international clientele of postsecondary institutions and that are warranted by our expectations of the economic and social integration potential of postsecondary graduates.

Science and Research committee  The first phenomenon that explains this gap is the distance that francophone students outside Quebec have to travel to study at a francophone institution. There are 97 universities in Canada, and the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne has 22 member institutions.

Science and Research committee  I think we need to take a step toward true equality in the post-secondary sector and take seriously some of the imperatives that are embedded in Bill C‑13. We will have to accept that there may be specific measures for francophone students, as well as as asymmetrical thinking on granting agency programs, including scholarships.

Science and Research committee  I would like to add that the dynamic that is being referred to at the moment—that of the private sector and wealthy potential donors—is occurring in favour of major fashionable disciplines. We talk a lot about MATES—mathematics, arts, technology, engineering and science. If this is the model we want to move toward, we are abandoning the smaller institutions that do not have the means to offer these types of programs or that do not offer them.

Science and Research committee  I tend to agree with Mr. Davidson. The granting council system could provide better coordination among the councils—which is a finding in the Bouchard-Taylor report—but the current system seems to suit the community. The problem is funding, including scholarships and institutional supports that enable research infrastructure to operate.

Science and Research committee  There are very few graduate programs in our network of institutions, so it's very difficult to even consider a postgraduate internship. What's more, as soon as we start our studies at the graduate level, the idea is instilled in us that we have to start looking at careers other than research careers or teaching careers.

Science and Research committee  I would add that some institutional policies sometimes set salaries and lead investigators can't offer more than what the institutional policy allows. If a lead investigator wants higher salaries or additional funding to attract unique talent, they might be held back by institutional policy.

Science and Research committee  We haven't heard any on our end, because students aren't members of our association, but from time to time we see some of those stories. Personally, I got a grant to do my master's in 2006, and a fellowship for my doctorate from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, or SSHRC, in 2008.

Science and Research committee  Our association hasn't been directly involved in that issue in recent months. However, we are aware that many of our institutions and many of the students who attend them have made these requests of various governments.

Science and Research committee  Thank you. The Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, or ACUFC, brings together the 22 francophone or bilingual post-secondary institutions in a francophone minority setting. Its mandate is to represent the collective interests of our members to federal institutions to improve access to post-secondary education in French.