If you find that the situation of French in Montreal is worrying, do not look at what is happening in research, in our universities and laboratories: in Quebec, almost 100% of scientific articles published are written in English. While Liberal MPs from the West Island are tearing up their shirts to prevent us from protecting French, Marie-Victorin’s language is dying in science, and the federal government is missing.
The proportion of scientific articles published in French in Quebec has dropped dramatically in recent decades. In fact, in natural and medical sciences, French has disappeared.
The data is clear: according to the Observatoire des sciences et technologies, the proportion of scientific articles published in French in Quebec has fallen from 4% in 2000 to 0.6% in 2021. In social sciences, the last exclusion of French-speaking science in North America, the situation is similar: 70% of recent articles were in English, whereas this proportion was less than 50% in 1980.
It is no longer a decline, but a free fall. And it happens in general indifference.
Reasons to care
While it is true that French, German and Japanese scientists are also increasingly publishing in English, they are evolving in a context where their national language is not threatened. In Quebec, English is not neutral. Its use contributes to strengthening an Anglophone cultural and linguistic space even as English is gaining ground in all aspects of Quebec society.
A language is more than words; more than just an interchangeable work tool. Ours is intimately linked to our history, our culture, and it is perfectly suited to respond to the issues facing our communities. By publishing in French, we allow citizens, whose taxes have financed the production of scholarly knowledge, to have access to it in their own language.
The government of a country with two official languages must offer a research funding ecosystem where researchers have a real opportunity to submit their funding applications in their language. While applications for funding in French fluctuate between 5% and 12% in Canada, we cannot claim that this is the case.
What solutions?
When he was questioned in committee about the concrete measures put in place by his government to protect French in science, the Minister responsible for Science, François-Philippe Champagne, limited himself to saying that he remained “vigilant”. That says a lot about the Liberal government’s disinterest in the matter.
However, the French-speaking scientific community does not lack positive measures to improve its lot. Financial support for the Service d’aide à la recherche en français (SARF), piloted by Acfas; better funding of French-language scholarly journals and knowledge providers; revision of the criteria and composition of the evaluation committees and granting of funds for the translation of publications are some measures that could allow French-speaking researchers to keep their heads above water.
There is an urgent need to act, and the Liberal government must do more to prevent the free fall of French in science from ending in a hard landing.