Parliamentary Committee Notes: Summary of Related Policy Decisions

Research Security

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry; Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; and the Minister of Health released a statement highlighting the governments concerns related to research security and COVID-19.
The Government remains concerned by the actions of hostile actors targeting COVID-19 related research in Canada and encouraged all members of the research community – including those in government, academia, and the private sector – to take extra precautions to protect the security of COVID-19 related research, intellectual property and knowledge development.
Innovators, researchers and research institutions should consult the Government of Canada’s Safeguarding Your Research webpage to access helpful tools, information and links to resources and learn about best practices that will assist them in protecting the knowledge and innovations they are developing.
Additionally, the Government instructed federal research funding agencies, including the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to review their security policies and processes and to promote awareness of the best practices and tools available to the Canadian researchers and innovators they fund, so researchers can appropriately protect their innovative work.

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry; Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; and the Minister of Health, released a new policy statement on research security outlining the next steps that the government would take to balance openness and collaboration with appropriate safeguards for Canadian researchers’ knowledge, data and intellectual property.
The government asked members of the joint Government of Canada–Universities Working Group to develop specific risk guidelines to integrate national security considerations into the evaluation and funding of research projects and partnerships. These guidelines would better position researchers, research institutions and government funders to undertake consistent, due diligence in assessing potential risks to research security.
These guidelines would complement the work already under way by the granting councils and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) as they review their security policies and procedures, with the goal of better integrating national security considerations into their activities.

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Minister of Health, released the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships, developed in collaboration with the Government of Canada–Universities Working Group. These guidelines integrate national security considerations into the development, evaluation and funding of research partnerships.
The Guidelines better position researchers, research organizations and Government funders to undertake consistent, risk-targeted due diligence of potential risks to research security and are intended to help safeguard Canada’s research ecosystem from foreign interference, espionage, and unwanted knowledge transfer that could contribute to: advancements in military, security, and intelligence capabilities of states or groups that pose a threat to Canada; or disruption of the Canadian economy, society, and critical infrastructure.
The Guidelines were applied on a mandatory basis in the first phase to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council’s (NSERC) Alliance Grants program as a pilot, recognizing that this program funds sensitive research areas that may carry higher security risks. The pilot took place from July 2021 to January 2023.

To help with the implementation of the Guidelines, Budget 2022 announced $159.6 million, starting in 2022-23, and $33.4 million ongoing to build capacity within post-secondary institutions as well as to enhance Canada’s ability to protect Canadian research.
As part of this announcement, Public Safety was allotted $12.6 million over 5 years and $2.9 million ongoing to establish the Research Security Centre mandated to provide guidance and assistance to universities on how to protect their research.
The Research Security Centre has been operating since spring 2023 and working closely with all university-based Directors of Research Security and working level counterparts to address issues and questions related to research security.
This forthcoming announcement of the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern will officially launch the Centre.

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Minister of Health, released a statement on next steps to protect Canada’s research.
Grant applications that involve conducting research in a sensitive research area will not be funded if any of the researchers working on the project are affiliated with a university, research institute or laboratory connected to military, national defence or state security entities of foreign state actors that pose a risk to our national security.

The Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern provides alignment across the federal research ecosystem as it relates to research grant applications submitted by a university or affiliated research institution to the federal granting councils— the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)—and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
In order to support the implementation of this policy, the Government of Canada has publish two lists; the Sensitive Technology Research Areas List that enumerates the technologies that the government has deemed to be sensitive and Named Research Organizations List which enumerates the institutions that researchers should not be affiliated with as those may pose a risk to Canada’s national security.
This policy follows from the February 14, 2023 statement that the Ministers of Innovation, Science and Industry, Public Safety, and Health released jointly on enhancing Canada’s research security posture.