"We're dying a slow death," said Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc Québécois MP for Rimouski-Neigette-Témiscouata-Les Basques. This was his reaction when University Affairs contacted the vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Science and Research about the report entitled Revitalizing Research and Scientific Publication in French in Canada, presented to the House of Commons on June 15.
"Think about it: In 2021, only 0.6 per cent of scientific publications in Quebec were in French, compared to four per cent in the early 2000s," said Mr. Blanchette-Joncas, who was the driving force behind this initiative, which he described as "historic." The figures cited by the Bloc Québécois MP come from the Observatoire des sciences et des technologies, which compiled them using data from Clarivate, the company behind the Web of Science platform, EndNote software and Journal Citation Reports.
The committee's study is one of a series of alarm bells sounded in recent months, warning of the marginalization of French in the sciences. Many of the 28 witnesses heard over five sessions - held between Oct. 3, 2022, and Feb. 2, 2023 - had already shared similar concerns, as had a number of authors of the 24 briefs the committee received on the subject.
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