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Calls to ActionHuman Rights Complaint concerning the Canada Research Chairs ProgramThe Canada Research Chairs program was established at the millennium by the Government of Canada, with the goal of creating 2000 new research positions in selected universities across the country. The Program's goal is to enhance Canada's competitiveness in the global, knowledge-based economy, improve Canadians' health, and enrich our social and cultural life. Its strategy is to strengthen research excellence in Canada and increase Canada's research capacity by attracting and retaining the best researchers. Chairs are distributed by province, university, and discipline-based funding council according to a formula agreed upon at the outset. Roughly three-quarters of the Programs billion dollar budget supports research in the natural sciences, engineering, and health sciences. Although over 50% of the professors in Canada teach in social sciences and humanities disciplines, they must compete for only 20% of the Chairs. No targets or guidelines were established for members of any equity group. Women are 51% of Canadas population, 59% of degree recipients at universities across the country, 35% of the professoriate, but (as of 2005) women hold only 20% of Canada Research Chairs. Thus the CRC program is exacerbating sexism in the academy. From 2001, with the announcement of the first round of CRC appointments,women across the country have protested the lack of attention to equity. PAR-L has played a prominent role in sharing information and gathering support for action. A human rights complaint was laid before the Canadian Human Rights Commission in Ottawa. In 2003 by eight women from across the country against Industry Canada. We reached a negotiated Settlement Agreement in 2006. Since that time, a new Canada Excellence Research Chairs program was launched; its first 19 appointments, made in May 2010, have gone exclusively to men. Each CERC will receive up to $10 million of federal funding over seven years. This part of the PAR-L web site contains an archive of documents relating to the complaint and also a chronology of key events.
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