Recent work by our colleagues Vincent Larrivière and Éric Forgues, notably Portrait et défis de la recherche en français en contexte minoritaire au Canada (in French only), has shown that research in French has reached a critical turning point. It has to contend with lack of recognition, struggles to fund certain research projects, limited access to graduate studies, and difficulties in establishing synergies and collaborations. The very future of Francophone research is at risk if these issues go unaddressed, and that is precisely why the University of Ottawa’s Collège des chaires de recherche sur le monde francophone (CCRMF) and Chaires de recherche sur le monde francophone (CRMF) program were created.

The CCRMF brings together top researchers working on a range of critical subjects: Francophone immigration to Canada, religions and cultural transformations in Canada, the history of French-language institutions, education in minority settings, language rights, art restitution in Francophone African countries, telemedicine, access to health care in French, and the health of Francophone populations in Sub-Saharan Africa. The CCRMF’s many activities reflect the excellence and commitment of all the chairholders, who help to ensure that French-language scholarship and research on the Francophonie continue to flourish at the University of Ottawa.

The director’s role is to call upon researchers within the network of Francophone chairholders and others who work on the Francophonie here and elsewhere. The director also strives to make the CCRMF a dynamic force within the University, and together with the chairholders, to actively foster the excellence of Francophone research and the dissemination of scholarship in French. CCRMF leadership is also involved in several University projects and committees; it defends the need for research in French and promotes its development wherever and whenever possible.

In October 2019, the University of Ottawa appointed Professor E.-Martin Meunier as director of the CCRMF. As a professor at the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences and a chairholder himself, Professor Meunier is responsible for overseeing the development of synergies between the researchers in this network and other researchers studying the French-speaking world.

The CCRMF and the research chairs are funded by the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation and are also supported by the Office of the Vice-President, International and Francophonie.

The CCRMF works in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Canadian Francophonies (CRCCF) (Website in French only), the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Citizenship and Minorities (CIRCEM) and the Centre on Governance (COG). The Observatory on education in minority language contexts is an initiative directed by Professor Nathalie Bélanger of the Faculty of Education. The goal of the Observatory is to mobilize knowledge and share emerging research with teachers to improve educational practices in schools.

The CCRMF collaborates with many organizations that share the same interests in and concerns for the Francophonie, scholarship in French, and the development of Francophone cultures and societies. These include the Canadian Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities, Acfas and the Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d’expression française en Amérique du Nord (CEFAN) (Website in French only).

The CCRMF extends its international commitment to science in French by establishing collaborations and carrying out projects with the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), the Réseau International des Chaires Senghor de la Francophonie (RICSF, in French) and the Institut international pour la Francophonie (2iF, in French).