Science and Research committee  Just to be clear, you're talking about the Banting Research Foundation Discovery Award program.

Science and Research committee  The distribution of awards is based strictly on the applicants we receive. One of our issues is that for many years, until just recently, we were only accepting applications in English, so that could have been a detriment to early-career investigators. We have supported investi

Science and Research committee  The key barrier for us is really funding. We're a relatively small foundation, and we are able to provide a limited number of pilot and feasibility awards each year. To give you an example, we usually have around 60 applicants. These are individuals in their first three years of

Science and Research committee  Absolutely. I really applaud the federal government for some of their directed support now for the Black community and for indigenous. That's definitely on the right track, and we need more. We need to understand how to most strategically deploy those funds, again working with

Science and Research committee  I can—

Science and Research committee  Yes, the granting agencies really have very good parental leave plans and policies, as do the universities generally in Canada. In fact, in that case we do much better than the U.S. I really feel that the policies that are in place today are reasonably fair. I think, though, th

Science and Research committee  I think university budgets are of considerable importance in terms of where their budget comes from. It is true that in most universities across Canada the amount of base budget to support tenured faculty is fairly flat, if not even in decline. That puts a lot of onus on the univ

Science and Research committee  Certainly programs like the Canada research chairs and the Canada excellence research chairs have been terrific. I'm a former dean of medicine at the University of Toronto. These programs have really been the lifeblood for recruiting and sustaining some of our most excellent scie

Science and Research committee  We're out of time. I know.

Science and Research committee  I'd be pleased to do so. Thank you.

Science and Research committee  Thank you. My experience is that these programs, which have been excellent, have really been subsumed mostly within the budgets of the departments and the faculties. In other words, they've just become part of base. I think that if we want to really stimulate the recruitment o

Science and Research committee  Let me say that the increased support for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows is absolutely crucial. The percentage of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows funded through those federal funds, though, is quite small. The vast majority of funding for graduate student

Science and Research committee  Well, it's certainly a priority for our foundation, and yes, it is certainly part of our recommendation for a new early-career investigator program. It's absolutely crucial that we take into consideration the barriers that are currently in existence. The good news is that our in

Science and Research committee  Yes. Very specifically, I think early-career investigators should be offered the opportunity for a higher rate of funding through increased funding overall for researcher-led programs. CIHR is a great example. Last year, only 20% of early-career investigators received grants, and

Science and Research committee  I'm finished. I'll just say that our proposal has received a very positive response. Thank you.