(Ottawa) A few hundred scientists and researchers gathered on Parliament Hill on Thursday to demand that the federal government increase funding for science.
Posted at 5:13 p.m.
One of the main demands of the organizers of the “Support Our Science” event is an increase of nearly 48% in the value of graduate scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships awarded by organizations funded by Ottawa.
According to the group of protesters, funding for postgraduate students has not increased since 2003. The increase claimed would equal the value of inflation seen since that year, the collective argues.
“Most of our salaries have almost doubled since 2003 so it’s unimaginable to live with an (income) 20 years back,” said Jeannette Whitton, a professor in the botany department at the University of British Columbia who s went to the rally.
The latter claimed to hear “extremely often” financial concerns from young scientists she meets.
“I have a student currently in her bachelor’s degree who would like to do her master’s, but she can make more money planting trees in the summer than she could in a whole year, even with a prestigious grant. “, she gave as an example.
In his opinion, the scientific community risks becoming less and less diversified and representative of the entire population since only young people from more affluent backgrounds will be able to continue to have the means to study science.
Anh-Khoi Trinh, a student present at Thursday’s demonstration, pointed out that many young people are thinking of continuing their professional career elsewhere than in Canada in order to find better conditions there.
“Since 2003, the value of scholarships has been $21,000 per year and if we compare with other countries such as the United States, we see that there are universities where the minimum salary is around US$48,000. per year. We are therefore less than half that of some colleagues in the United States, ”summarized the man who is a doctoral student in physics at McGill University.
He told The Canadian Press that he thought about it himself. For the time being, he said he prefers the idea of continuing his career in Canada, but having chosen to turn away from research since he considers this option to be too precarious.
The organizers of the rally presented an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Minister of Science and Innovation François-Philippe Champagne. The document would be 60 meters long due to the collected signatures of thousands of Canadian scientists.
Protesters have argued that many graduate students and postdoctoral researchers receive funding from three federal agencies, but many times these scholarships don’t even reach the value of minimum wage.
They call for the creation of 50% more scholarships for postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers.