On Thursday May 4th, 2023 the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) presented to the Standing Committee on Science and Research (SRSR) as part of their study on Graduate Funding.

During her presentation, Mackenzy Metcalfe, CASA’s Executive Director highlighted the vital role that graduate and post-doctoral student researchers play in the research, development and innovation of Canada’s sciences, and the steps the government needs to take to ensure these researchers are adequately supported.

CASA called on the government to implement increases to Tri-Agency funding; both in award amounts and number of awards available to students. This will ensure that students are appropriately compensated for their valuable work and simultaneously continue to make Canada a competitive and lucrative place for students to conduct research. Finally, CASA worked to ensure student perspectives are always present in Tri-Agency decisions by asking the government to reserve student seats on the governing councils.

With these recommendations to the SRSR committee, CASA hopes that student researchers can be fairly compensated for the work they do, and Canada can in turn attract innovative student research talent for years to come.