Hon. Stan Kutcher: Honourable senators, I rise to bring attention to a group of young people across Canada whose work will provide the scientific discoveries of today and tomorrow, and improve the health and well-being of our grandchildren and their grandchildren.

They belong to a loose affiliation of individuals who spend much of their time working — and working extremely hard. These are the young people who are deeply engaged in scientific research. They are our hope for a much brighter tomorrow.

Yet, they toil in relative obscurity, and their remuneration for the foundational work they do falls well below what we call the “poverty line.” They are also the members of Support Our Science. Some of them are in the gallery today.

Support Our Science has one goal: to increase graduate student and post-doctoral funding in Canada. It represents tens of thousands of graduate students and post-doctoral scholars advocating for an increase in funding for those who are on the front line of innovation and transformative research. They are advocating for a living wage so that the next generation of researchers will not need to live in poverty. Yes, you heard that correctly.

These young people — actually, not all so young, aged between 22 and 42 — who are doing the research that will lead to life-saving treatments, better health and well-being for all Canadians, are often living hand-to-mouth.

In Canada, graduate student Tri-Council-awarded scholarships have not increased since 2003. The average salary for a Master of Science candidate is $19,000 and PhD, $21,000.

According to Support Our Science, the majority of these federally funded graduate and post-doctoral scholarships amount to less than the minimum wage, forcing some of the brightest minds in Canada to barely get by or to leave the country in order to seek better-funded positions abroad. This is unacceptable.

Support Our Science has two primary requests of the federal government, which has the authority and responsibility for the Tri-Councils. First, increase the value of graduate scholarships and post-doctoral fellowships by 48% to match inflation since 2003 and index it to the Consumer Price Index.

Secondly, increase by 50% the number of graduate scholarships and post-doctoral fellowships awarded by the Tri‑Council; this is essential for building our science research capacity.

Such modest investment made now will support the next generation of leaders in science and research and will help Canada to be better equipped to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow.

We have noted that the acronym for Support Our Science is SOS. We know what that acronym means. Please join me in showing our appreciation to Support Our Science for supporting our science. Thank you, wela’lioq.