Canada on Tuesday launched a C$1.7 billion ($1.2 billion) program to recruit world-leading researchers, part of an effort to recruit intellectual talent seeking to leave the United States due to President Donald Trump’s policies.
Major Canadian institutions, including the country’s largest hospital network and the University of Toronto, have previously announced multimillion-dollar strategies to recruit experts whose work has been affected by Trump’s sweeping cuts to scientific research.
Canada’s federal government has now joined this effort, in what it called “one of the largest recruitment programs of its kind globally.”
The plan is not strictly aimed at US researchers affected by Trump.
A statement from the Ministries of Industry and Health says the aim is to “attract and support more than 1,000 leading international and expatriate researchers”, including French speakers.
But asked about AFP At a news conference Tuesday, if scientists alienated by the president were targeted for recruitment, Industry Minister Melanie Joly said, “some countries are turning their backs on academic freedom. We won’t do that.”
The recruiting effort would be global, he said, but added: “We know that many people south of the border are raising their hands and already showing interest. Our universities have already started having these conversations.”
Experts have warned that Trump’s policies could trigger major changes in the global competition to hire some of the world’s brightest minds, which for decades has been dominated by deep-pocketed American universities backed by robust federal funding.
Trump’s funding cuts have impacted a variety of research projects, and studies involving climate change or diversity, equity and inclusion have been severely affected.
The European Union also made efforts to attract American researchers, announcing an incentive package worth 500 million euros ($582 million) earlier this year to make the 27-nation bloc “a magnet for researchers.”
Joly said a priority would be to encourage top Canadian researchers working abroad to return.
“I think for a long time in Canada we’ve talked about brain drain,” Joly said, expressing hope that the country can now “bring our people back home.”
