In a move targeting collaboration with Chinese institutions in sensitive sectors, the Canadian Government has announced it will no longer fund research if the researchers have links to entities of states inimical to Canada.
The announcement was made on Tuesday evening in a statement jointly issued by François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, Jean-Yves Duclos, minister of health, and Marco EL Mendicino, minister of public safety.
While China was not explicitly named in the announcement of new norms, the Globe and Mail reported that the “federal government will no longer fund research with Chinese military and state security institutions and is urging the provinces and universities to adopt similar national-security measures.”
Ottawa has asked the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Canada’s federal research granting councils, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, as well as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, to “adopt a further enhanced posture regarding national security.”
“Grant applications that involve conducting research in a sensitive research area will not be funded if any of the researchers working on the project are affiliated with a university, research institute or laboratory connected to military, national defence or state security entities of foreign state actors that pose a risk to our national security,” the joint statement said.
In a separate tweet, Champagne said, “Because the research of today will be the economy of tomorrow, we are taking the extra steps to protect our institutions and our intellectual property.”
The government has also written to universities “urging them to follow similar guidelines for all their research partnerships, and more particularly those partnerships involving sensitive research areas.”
“Our government takes its responsibility to protect Canadian research very seriously. Canada’s advanced research ecosystem is at the forefront of global discovery, but it can also be an attractive target for foreign state actors that pose a risk to our national security,” the statement noted.
Globe and Mail reported late last month on China’s National University of Defence Technology or NUDT joining in research in advanced areas.
It cited a spokesperson for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as saying, “The National University of Defence Technology’s name alone suggests there exists a Chinese military component to its activities.”
