The Minister made a statement and, with Mark Schaan, answered questions.

At 5:33 p.m., the meeting was suspended.

At 5:37 p.m., the meeting resumed.

Mark Schaan and Nipun Vats answered questions.

Tony Baldinelli moved, — That the Standing Committee on Science and Research extend its study on Artificial Intelligence by one meeting, and that the Committee re-invite all witnesses who were scheduled to appear on Monday December 1, 2025.

Debate arose thereon.

At 6:32 p.m., the meeting was suspended.

At 4:30 p.m., on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, the meeting resumed.

The debate continued

The question was put on the motion and it was agreed to on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Tony Baldinelli, Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault, Vincent Neil Ho, Kurt Holman, Jagsharan Singh Mahal, Jennifer McKelvie, Taleeb Noormohamed, Aslam Rana — 9;

NAYS: — 0.

Maxime Blanchette-Joncas moved, — Because the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) has already demonstrated its capacity to transmit disaggregated data directly to accredited researchers, in accordance with current ethical and legal requirements,

That the Committee request the government to establish an official and permanent protocol for the secure transfer of data held by the three federal granting councils, namely, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), specifically, the disaggregated data for all submitted applications, whether funded or unfunded, across all student and faculty funding programs starting at the master’s level.

That this protocol aims to make accessible, in a disaggregated, anonymized, and secure form, all data relating to submitted funding applications, whether funded or not, for all student and faculty funding programs, beginning at the master’s level.

That this include the (1) demographic data of applicants and collaborators, including applicants’ responses to the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) questionnaire; the (2) applicants’ and collaborators’ institutions and departments; the (3) the language of the application; (4) all data concerning the type of application and project content (year of application, grant program, discipline, title, abstract, and amount requested by the applicant); the (5) identity of the evaluation committee, comments, assessments, and scores assigned to applications for each criterion; and the (6) the application outcome and amount awarded.

That access to these data be granted to accredited researchers who have received approval from a recognized research ethics board, and that such data be shared under a security protocol consistent with the international “Five Safes” model used by Statistics Canada and its Research Data Centres.

Debate arose thereon.

By unanimous consent, it was agreed, — Whereas the three federal research councils, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), promote research on research, which requires access to high-quality data;

That the Committee request the Government to direct the Tri-Council to develop a data-management protocol and a secure data-transfer process to allow for the evaluation of funding distribution;

That this protocol aims to make accessible, in a disaggregated, anonymized, and secure form, all data relating to submitted funding applications, whether funded or not, for all student and faculty funding programs, beginning at the master’s level;

That the dataset include all anonymized and disaggregated variables necessary to assess equity, fairness, and potential bias, including but not limited to career stage, field of research, language of application, institution type, and equity-deserving group self-identification variables collected under existing Tri-Council frameworks, and that any additional anonymized variables required by qualified researchers to conduct rigorous equity or bias analyses also be made available wherever permissible under federal privacy legislation;

That the Tri-Council harmonize data definitions, coding structures, and documentation across their respective agencies to ensure the comparability and usability of the released data for equity and bias analysis;

That access to these data be granted to accredited researchers who have received approval from a recognized research ethics board, and that such data be shared under a security protocol consistent with the international Five Safes model used by Statistics Canada and its Research Data Centers;

That this process complies with all relevant federal privacy and data-governance legislation, including the Privacy Act and the Directive on Privacy Practices;

Taleeb Noormohamed moved, — That the committee invite the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and the Minister responsible for CEDQ, Melanie Joly, to appear before the Committee on the topic of her mandate, on or before February 5, 2026.

Debate arose thereon.

After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

That the Committee invite the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation to appear before the Committee on the topic of their mandates, separately for two hours each, on or before February 5, 2026; and if the Ministers do not appear on or before February 5, 2026, the Chair automatically report their failure to appear to the House.

It was agreed, — That the drafting instructions be sent to the clerk on or before Tuesday, December 23, 2025.