Laval University science students are adding their voices to critics to denounce the fact that white men are excluded from calls for applications for Canada Research Chair positions in universities across the country.
“Many of us have a future in research,” says François Plamondon, a bachelor’s degree student in biology who initiated a movement among students against this practice. It’s much more rewarding to be a researcher in an institution that values what you do, and that research is the most important element. »
“It’s a bit discouraging,” adds his colleague Louis-Joseph Brouillard, a master’s student in biology.
Six student associations, bringing together students and research students in chemistry, biochemistry and microbiology, chemical engineering, forestry and environment, geomatics, as well as science and engineering, sent a letter dated December 31, 2022 to the Research Chairs Program of the Canada. They denounce “a superficial approach to the problems of equity, diversity and inclusion”.
It was a call for applications in 2021 for positions on Canada Research Chairs in biology at Laval University that was the trigger. These were reserved for women, Aboriginals, people with disabilities and visible minorities, and the Quebec government and the opposition parties had unanimously denounced measures that “go much too far”.
Other methods
In their letter, the students demand “the abolition of this selection criterion to replace it with policies that address these issues in greater depth” and that attack “the root of the problem”. The Canada Research Chairs Program did not respond to the email from To have to at the time these lines were written. “There is a lack of representation, recognizes François Plamondon, but there are so many other methods to counter that. »
Universities must comply with federal rules, whose funding researchers depend on, to meet diversity targets set following a Federal Court ruling. The targets for December 2029 are 50.9% for women, 22% for visible minorities, 7.5% for persons with disabilities and 4.9% for Indigenous peoples.
Laval University, whose members of the administration were copied when the letter was sent, invited representatives of student associations to a meeting on Monday. The vice-rector for international affairs and sustainable development, the vice-rector for research, creation and innovation, as well as an equity, diversity and inclusion officer must participate.
Invited to react, the university points out that this meeting “will allow students to submit their applications for the Canada Research Chairs Program”. “University management wishes to hear their concerns in a spirit of dialogue. This meeting will also be an opportunity to present to them the various actions undertaken by the University in terms of EDI. [équité, diversité et inclusion] “, we write.
The university specifies that before issuing a call for nominations for a Canada Research Chair, the gaps that remain to be filled in order to reach the targets are assessed. If the objectives are met, all applications are accepted.