May 16, 2019

OTTAWA, ON – A Private Members’ Motion put forth by MP Matt Jeneroux proposes that all federally-funded research should be subject to a universal open access policy.

Currently, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) must provide their research to the public at no cost and free of most copyright restrictions.

In addition to supporting research via these three granting councils, the federal government provides funding to non-governmental organizations for research purposes. Currently, this research funding is not subject to the same open access publication policy.

“Research is so vital to our progress as a society. We want to promote the sharing of research and give Canadians access to research funded through their taxes,” said Jeneroux, the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and the former Shadow Minister for Science.

“Increasing the scope of the open access policy ensures researchers have the ability to monetize their findings and inventions stemming from their research while ensuring Canadians can access this research.”

Jeneroux tabled the Private Members’ Motion in the House of Commons on Wednesday, May 15. The full text of the Motion is as follows:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) recognize the value of publicly-funded research and the importance of increasing researchers’ ability to use and build on knowledge paid for by Canadian taxpayers; and (b) expand the existing Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on publications to apply to all research funded by federal research grants, taking into account the need to protect commercially sensitive information.