The Canadian government announced on Tuesday that it would refuse applications for research grants in a “sensitive” field by researchers from states that represent a “risk”, citing reasons of “national security”.
The request for a grant for a “sensitive area” will be refused if one of the researchers is attached, via his university or his research institute, to a “foreign state actor who represents a risk for our national security”, according to a press release. .
We do not name the “risk”
This measure aims to “protect the country, its institutions and its intellectual property” and “will be implemented quickly”, specified the ministers of Innovation, Science and Industry, Health, and Security. public.
However, the authorities did not specify which areas were considered sensitive.
Research conducted in Canada is “at the forefront of discoveries globally”, says the government, which concludes that this “may make it an attractive target in the eyes of foreign state actors who present a risk for national security”. Ottawa says it has contacted Canadian universities to adopt similar measures.
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Researchers linked to the Chinese military
At the end of January, Canada’s Innovation Minister, François-Philippe Champagne, pledged to enact new rules related to national security after an investigation by the Globe and Mail newspaper revealed close collaboration between researchers from 50 Canadian universities. who reportedly published joint research with scientists linked to the Chinese military, between 2005 and 2022.
Relations between China and Canada have deteriorated sharply in recent years, particularly after the arrest by Canada at the request of the United States of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in 2018.
In recent days, four objects — including one described by Washington as a Chinese spy balloon — have been shot down over the United States or Canada.
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A first: an arrest for industrial espionage
In November, Canadian police arrested a former researcher for the Hydro-Quebec electricity company for industrial espionage for the benefit of China, a first in Canada.
This researcher would have published scientific articles and patents on behalf of a university as well as Chinese research centers without the knowledge of his employer, between February 2018 and October 2022.
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