Before being named Quebec’s chief scientist, I had a career in neuroscience and mental health research lasting nearly 30 years at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, affiliated with McGill University. More than 80 graduate students (master’s and doctorate) and postdoctoral researchers have been the soul and reason for being of a cutting-edge laboratory recognized throughout the world. My team members came from all over the world, including, of course, Quebec and Canada, but also from France, Belgium, China, Japan, the United States, Mexico, Australia, India, Great Britain and Ethiopia, to name just a few countries.
Without the essential contribution of international students, my laboratory would simply not have succeeded in standing out as a world leader in research into mental health and neurodegenerative diseases. Several of my former students have remained in Quebec, working in our colleges and universities, in the private sector or in the public service, but also as entrepreneurs, creating their own jobs by starting their business. Their contribution was stimulating and beneficial for our entire society. And my example is far from unique.
The competition to attract the best foreign students is fierce and global. Several colleges and universities in Europe and the United States, and their governments, offer very attractive conditions and scholarships to recruit the best talents. Quebec and its institutions must therefore stand out to attract them.
This observation was part of the recommendations of the report of the working group that I chaired in 2021 on the Quebec university of the future, at the request of Ministers Roberge and McCann. A more recent analysis from the Ministry of Higher Education reached the same conclusion.
Moreover, the master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral scholarship programs of the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) have all been open to foreign students for several years. International students receiving FRQ excellence scholarships represent approximately 30% of the cohorts funded by our programs in 2024-2025 (1,191 out of a total of 3,676 scholarship recipients), a fairly stable proportion since 2020-2021.
It is essential to maintain, if not increase, this number: in several disciplines and fields of research where Quebec excels, the lack of Quebec and Canadian students is alarming (life sciences, engineering, digital, aerospace, environment and several others). These students represent both a highly qualified future workforce for Quebec and a rich potential for collaboration with those who return to their country.
There has been much discussion for several months about limiting the annual number of immigrants, including graduate students, to Quebec and Canada. A bill is currently being studied in Quebec on this subject – Bill 74 (PL74), mainly aimed at improving the framework relating to foreign students. One of the important objectives of PL74 is the protection of the French language and the French fact in Quebec. We fully subscribe to this objective and the FRQ has also implemented several initiatives over the past two years to promote research, science and its discoverability in French, here in Quebec and throughout the world.
However, we must ensure that we do not lose our achievements and our competitiveness with regard to the recruitment of foreign graduate students. Our research teams depend greatly on it! In addition, we must avoid favoring one area of research over another: the COVID-19 pandemic reminds us that the answers and solutions to the unknown challenges of tomorrow are dependent on the development of expertise today.
The first leaders of several of our universities and colleges made their positions publicly known in this regard during the study of PL74 within the framework of the Citizen Relations Commission and in the media. Essentially, they recommend not subjecting their establishments to PL74. I generally support their recommendations.
At the very least, the government should consider excluding graduate students (master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral) from its new rules and restrictions. On an annual basis, the total number of international students registered in master’s and doctoral programs only represents a small proportion of the total number of temporary immigrants (between 12% with a study permit only and 21% with a study permit and a work permit for all international students, according to the report from Laval, McGill, Montreal and Sherbrooke universities). They are certainly not the ones who put the most pressure on access to housing and public services in Quebec! However, it is they who represent an important cog in our research teams.
I am of course prepared to work with all interested people in order to find a solution acceptable to all in this critical issue for the future of science and research in Quebec.
