Media Release
For Immediate Release
December 10, 2001
Federation President says more needs to be done
(OTTAWA) - Today, the President of the Humanities and Social
Sciences Federation of Canada said that in its budget the
government had taken two decisions with long-term impact when
it comes to research and education in Canada. "In funding
the indirect costs of research, it has taken an historic step
forward, a step which will help to ease the difficult situation
in Canadian universities," said Patricia Clements, "but
at the same time, the long term impact of the government's funding
decision for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada is cause for serious concern."
While the $9.5M increase to SSHRC's budget was welcomed news the
Federation had looked to this budget to create balance in the
government's funding of research. "But this budget is not
balanced. In fact, it has created further imbalance, leaving the
underfunded social sciences and humanities with only 11.5% of
the total granting councils budget. If Canada wants to provide
excellent university education and to sustain research on social
and cultural issues, the government will need very soon to address
this imbalance. Failing to do so will mean leaving behind the
needs of the majority of Canadian university students and the
majority of Canadian researchers," said Clements.
Both the Standing Committee on Finance and the Industry
Committee noted in their final reports to Parliament this
year that SSHRC had traditionally been under funded. In fact,
both Committees recommended significant increases to SSHRC's budget
to offset this funding imbalance.
By increasing NSERC and SSHRC budgets by exactly 7% each, the
government rejected the two committees' recommendations and as
a result the Federal Budget actually increases the disparity between
granting councils. "Let's remember that the social sciences
and humanities provide the ideas, the knowledge, and the intellectual
labour that runs many sides of our economy and society in the
new knowledge-based economy. We need to strike a balance when
it comes to funding them through SSHRC," said Clements.
The Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada represents
67 learned societies, 69 universities and colleges and over 24,000
researchers. It also manages the permanent secretariat of the
Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities which is
the largest academic gathering of its kind in North America and
administers the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme.
For further information, please contact:
Douglas Lauriault
Director -- Public Affairs
Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada
(613) 238-6112 ext. 306
