Ottawa wants to act against Chinese espionage

The federal Minister of Innovation promises to better protect research after an investigation reveals that institutions like McGill have multiplied partnerships with a university under the command of the Chinese army.

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“If we have to do more with the provinces, we will do it. We will call them,” said François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, yesterday.

“If we have to adopt additional measures to protect scientific research in universities, we will do so,” added the former Minister of Foreign Affairs.

At his side, Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, visiting the tribune of the Council for International Relations of Montreal (CORIM), said he was “extremely vigilant”.

“We are absolutely not naive,” he said.

McGill singled out

A Globe and Mail survey revealed yesterday that McGill University ranks 3rd among universities that work most closely with the National University of Defense Technology of China, by number of publications (between 2005 and 2022) .

In comparison, Concordia University ranks ninth in the rankings compiled by the Toronto daily and Strider Technologies Inc.

Invited to react by Le Journal, McGill University defended itself by saying that it strives “to be as open as possible to global collaborations”.

“We were the driving force behind the creation of the Government of Canada – Task Force on Universities, which worked on a strategy to ensure the security of the Canadian research enterprise,” she noted.

McGill recalled that in July 2021 Ottawa had new national security research guidelines.

“The Coalition of Canadian Research Universities (U15) takes the issue of protecting Canada’s research ecosystem seriously, in addition to their commitment to preserving a collaborative and open research ecosystem,” insisted the university. .

McGill said yesterday that it is working with our allies in a G7 task force on research security and integrity because it is an “ongoing concern of great importance”.

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