QUESTION PERIOD — Canadian Heritage
Francophone Minority Communities
October 20, 2026
Senator Moreau, francophone researchers in minority communities in Canada face systemic barriers that compromise their ability to publish their work in French. To maximize their chances of securing funding, many of them submit their grant applications in English.
A federal report found that, over a 10-year period outside Quebec, only 4 of the 73 applications submitted in French in investigator-initiated research programs were funded, a success rate of 5.5%.
What concrete measures does the government intend to take to address this inequity so that francophone researchers outside Quebec can present, conduct and publish their research without compromising their chances of securing funding?
Senator Aucoin, thank you for that important question.
The government believes that the best innovation demands contributions by both francophone researchers and anglophone researchers. That’s why, this past April, the Minister responsible for Official Languages, Marc Miller, announced $1 million to support French-language research, including $400,000 for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, $350,000 for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and $250,000 for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
On top of that, as part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-2028, the federal government has pledged to allocate $8.5 million to support the creation and dissemination of scientific information in French.
Thank you. You may have partly answered my second question.
Senator Moreau, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, or CIHR, has introduced measures to better support grant applications submitted in French. Yet the barriers to French-language research exceed the scope of a single program.
Will the government commit to evaluating these measures and adopting a federal strategy with measurable objectives to guarantee the future of French-language research?
That’s a great question. I did partly answer it by referring you to the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-2028.
The government believes that French-language research should be supported all across Canada and that scientific research always benefits from the contributions of francophone researchers. That’s why the government made a commitment to support research in both official languages, but particularly in French, through this action plan.
