On March 20, 2023,  the advisory panel report on the federal research support system was published — a review of Canada’s federal research support system, including 21 recommendations. As the review approaches its two year anniversary, Evidence for Democracy carried out our first-ever review of the recommendations.

The resulting Report of the Advisory Panel on the Federal Research Support System (sometimes referred to as the Bouchard Report), was released on March 20, 2023. The Bouchard report outlined a comprehensive action plan, with 21 recommendations on how to modernize the federal system supporting research in order to maximize the impacts of investments and best position Canadian researchers for success.

In the year since its release, the Bouchard has become a guiding light for the Canadian science community. But progress is still ongoing — recently we carried out a review of the report’s recommendations, and remarked that we are still a long way from the finish line.

Now, as we near the two-year anniversary of the report, we wondered: how far have we come? 

Today, we are pleased to share our first review of the status of the Bouchard report’s recommendations. Overall, we found that of the 21 FSR recommendations, 1 is complete, 8 are in progress, and 12 remain unresolved.

Progress on these recommendations has been grouped into 7 sections:

1. Approach to Research Support – Regarding the need for a bold approach to research, the government has began to work towards achieving both recommendations #1 (creating a new organization to address emerging needs and enhance coordination), and #2 (preserving existing granting councils) by announcing the structure and mandate of the upcoming research capstone organization.
2. Strategic Vision – Budget 2024 proposes the launch of an advisory Council on Science and Innovation to lead the strategic vision for research and innovation in Canada. Since its announcement, the government has made progress on both recommendations: having indicated its 10 member council will be drawn from academia, industry and non-profit sectors (recommendation #3), and having announced the Council will be responsible for creating a new science and innovation strategy (recommendation #4).
3. Research Funding – The federal government has acted to increase funding support for top talent, by announcing $1.8 billion over 5 years in core research grant funding to the Tri-Councils (recommendation #5) and significantly increasing the value and number of Tri-Council awards (recommendation #6). 
4. Support for the Talent Continuum – While the government has announced investments in Budget 2024 to improve and harmonize the grant management system (recommendation #7), it has not acted to streamline the Canada Research Chairs program (recommendation #8) nor enhanced programming to support mid-career professors (recommendation #9).
5. Research Infrastructure – Recommendations 10 through 15 focus more specifically on sustaining research infrastructure. While the government has announced several targeted investments in specific research facilities in Budget 2024, it has not acted to achieve a strategic approach to managing major research facilities (#10-12), streamline the Canada Foundation for Innovation application process (#13), ensure university reporting on John R Evans Leaders Fund allocations and outcomes (#14) or increase supports for research tools and instruments to Tri-Councils (#15).
6. Connecting Research and Innovation – Likewise, the federal government has several outstanding issues regarding connecting research and innovation. While it has acknowledged the critical role that research plays in the innovation, it has not clarified how the proposed research capstone organization and its innovation strategy will have clear links to other government, business, and other research communities (#16). The government does not provide clarifications on the Capstone’s use of flexible instruments such as blended funding (#17) nor how the Capstone will be responsible for identifying support for researchers (#18). 
7. Strengthening Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Lastly, the federal government has continued to roll out implementation of its Tri-Council EDI Action Plan 2018-2025 (#19), and has invested $30 million over 3 years in Budget 2024 to support Indigenous participation in research (#20). Unfortunately, it does not provide details on how it will support francophone research (#21), particularly when it comes to the upcoming research capstone organization. Rather, the 2024 fall economic statement only alludes to wrapping up “the final stages of development” on the capstone. 

Our full review can be found here, where we took a step-by-step approach, looking at what has been addressed and what remains to be done for each recommendation. The status of each recommendation has been sorted into three categories: complete, in progress, and unresolved. Some of the complete recommendations have been marked with an asterisk (*) — these recommendations have technically been addressed, but there are a few caveats.

As you can imagine, tracking every one of the Bouchard report’s recommendations is challenging! Have we missed a key detail? Please get in touch with us (at info@evidencefordemocracy.ca).