Academic researchers are used to presenting forms when requesting grants, but Canadian academics have expressed shock for a new questionnaire they receive when requesting funds issued in part or the United States government.
“Can you confirm that this is not a project of the project?” He asks a question, with a link that accompanies the executive order of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, not to finance the funds of government programs that deal with diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Can you confirm that this is not a climate or” environmental justice “project or include such elements?” Ask another.
Another question if a project “defends women of gender ideology”, another reference to a Trump executive order.
Peter Mcinnis, president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents 72,000 employees in more than 125 institutions, says they have been receiving messages about what he says is “the most unusual, not only to receive a questionnaire, but that this was clearly detecting ideological questions.”
It is not clear how many Canadian academics received the questionnaire, or how many works of people depend on the financing of granting organizations associated with the United States government, but most tend to be in the fields of health, science, agriculture and climate research.
For example, the US National Institute of Health.
You or someone you know received this questionnaire? We want to know about you.
Send an email to ask@cbc.ca.
“And they said they will no longer finance anything to do with the weather and the effects of health climate. Therefore, this questionnaire suddenly acquires much more serious consequences,” Mcinnis said.
What is at stake?
The motivations behind the new questionnaire have not been openly declared by the Trump administration, but the questions make them quite easy to obtain, they say that people with knowledge of the Canadian post -dessert sector.
“I could be looking to find research projects that you consider particularly, say, mention the unwavering ‘without value’, not my words, but I might not see as a high priority and use that to enliven public resentment against universities,” said Maïca Poirier Murphy, research manager of the Higher Education Strategy, who provides consulting for the post-second sector of Canada.
“Or it could be looking to identify projects that align particularly with their current political objectives,” Murphy told CBC News, referring to a question that asks if the investigation will support the United States in the extraction of precious minerals.
No matter what, Murphy and others say that repercussions to international academic work could be substantial.
The researchers now face difficult decisions, says Mcinnis, referring to the dilemma of an academic who works in research in the agricultural sector, specifically how to improve the yields of crops without using chemicals.
“They look at these questionnaires and say: How do I answer? … if I don’t answer, will I withdraw my funds?
Beyond the practical problem of losing the money that researchers need to continue doing their job, requesting academic findings that support any type of ideology, instead of being open consultations, it is a worrying direction, according to Murphy.
“Fundamental or basic research is driven by curiosity. So that is without a kind of application established from the beginning. That does not mean that it does not have applicability, of course,” Murphy said. Rather, she says that questionnaires like this can divert the financing of the type of research that brought key advances of humanity, such as penicillin.
Convert a defeat in a victory for Canada
But experts say that Canada can turn this situation positive, if you play your letters well.
Gabriel Miller, president and CEO of Canada University, says that some clarity is still needed about the application of the questionnaire.
“Like many things that happen in the United States at this time, there is a lot of confusion around this questionnaire. And so, part of what we must do is get more information. Therefore, we are working with the federal government to try to get more answers,” Miller told CBC News.
Miller says that the other face of Trump’s repression against academic institutions in the United States is that many top -level academics are considering Canada as a potential place that they could work. Just this week, Trump’s professor and critic from Yale, Jason Stanley, announced his decision to work at the Mock Center of the University of Toronto, and is a broader trend that Miller says he is listening a lot anecdotically.
Two other steps that Miller sees as necessary, is accelerating the visa process for academics and the increase in financing for universities, so that this newly acquired talent can begin to run.
He says it is something that will be key to the economic, political and intellectual resilience of Canada, something in the minds of many people these days.
“Canada needs to build on what has already been building, protecting it and strengthening it,” he said.
