This text is part of the special Acfas awards
There is no lack of pretexts for defeatism for anyone who observes the situation of French-speaking researchers across the country: universities, campuses and programs with starvation funding or existence called into question; strong pressure to publish in English in order to shine more; scarcity of assistants in some provinces, preventing professors from devoting more time to research, etc.
These observations, and many others, Jean-Pierre Perreault knows them better than anyone, but he does not give in to defeatism, no doubt because of his nature, but also of his position. As Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas), he observes all the dynamism of the university research community in the French-speaking world, that of leading figures as well as that of the next generation. Because each one needs the other immensely.
This is what is reflected every year at the time of the Acfas Gala, when we crown “people who have made remarkable breakthroughs, who possess great intellectual leadership and who contribute to the development of new talents. in an exceptional environment, ”emphasizes the vice-rector for research and graduate studies at the University of Sherbrooke. And if all the laureates have several things in common, one dominates all the others, affirms Jean-Pierre Perreault: “Research can be done in French. “
The winning conditions
This does not mean that the course is never strewn with pitfalls, as demonstrated by an Acfas study published last June and entitled Portraits and challenges of research in French in a minority context in Canada. In a survey of 515 French-speaking researchers, certain findings are worrying: 90% of new scholarly journals created since 2005 are in the English language; the percentage of articles in French halved between 1980 and 2010 at the University of Ottawa; from 1990 to today, the percentage of grant applications in French in the arts and in the social and human sciences has fallen from 25% to less than 15%.
The omnipresence of English, Jean-Pierre Perreault sees it every day as a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics at the University of Sherbrooke. This does not prevent him from firmly believing in the importance of “preserving French intellectual thought and vocabulary, regardless of the discipline”, and this requires, for example, the consolidation of French-language scholarly journals.
He also feels that, on the political front, things are moving in the right direction, both federally and provincially. “The review of the Official Languages Act can become an important opportunity to support Francophone universities in minority contexts, and we must salute the efforts of Sonia LeBel [ministre responsable des Relations canadiennes et de la Francophonie canadienne au sein du gouvernement de François Legault] who wants to take a leadership position within La Francophonie. The Minister also announced at the end of November the holding of annual meetings of Quebec organizations and Francophone minority communities.
Within this new dynamic, Jean-Pierre Perreault is convinced that Acfas has a role to play, “and all the credibility” required to assume it. The association has just added a brand new regional section, that of Toronto, following the inauguration of the University of French Ontario, while it is already present in Sudbury, Acadia, in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
A centenary to celebrate
Preparations are going well, but the president of Acfas is deliberately stingy with details on the celebrations surrounding the 100e anniversary of the venerable institution. From his enthusiastic tone, we can already predict that they will be impressive, spread over 13 months, starting at the next congress in May 2022 at Laval University and continuing beyond that of 2023 at the University. from Montreal, where it all began for Acfas, in 1923. “Remember the date of June 15, 2023,” said the president, the day the association was founded. It will be an opportunity to highlight our great achievements, but above all to highlight the people who have advanced research, in all sectors. In 100 years, Acfas has seen wars and revolutions, including the technological revolution, but it still has a young heart and is full of energy! “