Summary

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Introduction

The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages initiated this study:

  • To assist federal government research funding agencies in meeting their responsibilities under the recently revised provisions of Part VII of the Official Languages Act;

  • To examine, under the grant application processes, the current situation of researchers in official language minority communities (OLMCs), especially those working at French-language or bilingual universities outside Quebec, as well as those who study linguistic duality and report on any obstacles they encounter;

  • To prepare an inventory of initiatives by federal government research funding agencies and identify best practices; and

  • To present recommendations and propose solutions that could help federal research funding agencies reinforce their research support programs, promote linguistic duality and encourage research in French in general.

Under Part VII, the Official Languages Act now obliges all federal institutions to take positive measures to enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada, support and assist their development and foster the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.

This report examines measures implemented by federal research funding agencies to encourage research by members of OLMCs in general, as well as on subjects related to the development of these communities, and the promotion of linguistic duality.

Methodology

The data was collected using different techniques:

  • A thorough document analysis;

  • Telephone interviews with 40 university researchers: 38 from official language minority universities—Anglophone institutions in Quebec and Francophone or bilingual institutions elsewhere in Canada—and two from majority-language universities;

  • Twenty in-person interviews with representatives from federal research funding agencies; and

  • A one-day discussion forum in Ottawa in November 2006, during which university researchers and representatives from federal research funding agencies were invited to present and discuss the practices of federal research funding agencies and the obstacles to research funding as perceived by researchers.

Barriers

Among the barriers to their success in obtaining funding, researchers in OLMC institutions or studying issues related to official languages identified the following:

  • The limited awareness of the full range of federal funding opportunities available;

  • The predominance of English as the language in which research is published, especially in natural sciences;

  • The language skills of reviewers assessing proposals in their second language;

  • The low priority given to research concerning OLMCs or linguistic duality;

  • The weakness or absence of research infrastructures in small bilingual and French minority-language universities;

  • The evaluation standards of federal research funding agencies that do not take into account the particular circumstances of these institutions;

  • The relative isolation (physical and intellectual) of researchers from peers with similar research interests;

  • The complexity and variability of the agencies’ application procedures and perceptions of very limited chances of success in annual research grant competitions; and

  • The perception that competitions for grants favour the large majority-language universities.

Best practices

Certain practices initiated by federal research funding agencies offer promise in addressing these barriers. The productive exchange of experiences between researchers and representatives of these agencies addressed many pertinent questions, but also raised others. Discussions related to best practices and focused on the following themes:

  • Active promotion and dissemination of information by agencies on funding and research programs available to OLMCs, their institutions and researchers working on issues related to official languages;

  • Development of the capacity of federal research funding agencies to serve OLMCs in their own official language, particularly with respect to the bilingual abilities of peer review committees;

  • Agency research funding strategies aimed at small institutions to develop research infrastructure, increase research capacity and promote greater support at small bilingual and official language minority institutions. Attention was directed to networking between researchers in OLMCs, the creation of research centres and the streamlining of administrative procedures;

  • Commitment on behalf of the institutions to integrate and give OLMCs and linguistic duality research a higher priority in their research plans. A specific recommendation suggested the creation and funding of research chairs related to official languages;

  • Programs aimed at OLMC researchers and research institutions (regardless of the discipline or topic of research);

  • Programs to fund research relevant to OLMC issues and linguistic duality; and

  • Monitoring the extent of research support for OLMC studies, institutes and researchers, which requires changes in statistical reporting by the agencies in collaboration with Statistics Canada, the Canadian Association of University Business Officers and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.

Conclusion

Researchers and representatives of the federal research funding agencies were forthcoming in suggesting a number of ideas and improvements to address the barriers facing OLMC researchers in obtaining funding. This collaborative approach provides an excellent starting point for finding innovative ways to encourage research by members of OLMCs and fostering research on linguistic duality.

Recommendations

Based on the findings in this study, the Commissioner of Official Languages is proposing nine recommendations, eight of which are addressed to the federal research funding agencies and one to the Canada Research Chairs Program. The recommendations to the agencies aim to achieve the following:

  • Develop a targeted promotion strategy for the different types of research funding programs available;

  • Ensure adequate evaluation in both official languages;

  • Establish a specific funding mechanism targeted at small bilingual and official language minority universities to help sustain research capacity at the professor and student levels, and provide adequate administrative support;

  • Set aside a specific funding envelope for small official language minority universities for the creation of research centres and to increase their partnership and networking capacity;

  • Continue to streamline their application processes in consultation with university researchers;

  • Develop a strategy to increase the awareness, knowledge and comprehension of peer review committee members about the particular circumstances and obstacles of researchers at small official language minority universities;

  • Set aside stable funding for research on official languages issues and disseminate the results; and

  • Keep disaggregated data on funding to official language minority institutions and for research on official languages issues.

In addition, the Commissioner of Official Languages also recommends that the Canada Research Chairs Program invite the universities to:

  • Create and fund research chairs related to linguistic duality issues.

 

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