Canada recruits dozens of foreign scientists, researchers, poaching many from U.S.

Canadian universities have recruited dozens of foreign scientists and researchers, many of them poached from prestigious U.S. institutions, in the first intake of a program to attract world-leading academics.

The hiring of the 64 new recruits is being funded over eight years by $504 million from the federal government.

All four of the highest-paid Eddie Goldenberg Distinguished Research Chairs as well as dozens of others were previously at U.S. institutions, including Harvard and MIT.

The researchers are being hired by universities across the country, including the University of British Columbia, McGill and the University of Toronto.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, who helped announce the recruits at the University of B.C. in Vancouver on Thursday, said Canada was “doubling down” on science at a time when others were turning away from it.

“Attracting top talent will deliver breakthroughs that improve Canadians’ lives and advance Canada’s position as a global leader in science and innovation,” Joly said in a statement.

More than $37 million in other funding will support recruitment of 63 “emerging leaders” over the next year, Ottawa said.

Among the nine research chair hires at the University of B.C. is Peter Caravan, a molecular imaging scientist who was a radiology professor at Harvard Medical School.

He told the B.C. university in online remarks that there was a “personal dimension” to his appointment.

“I did my undergraduate degree at Acadia University in Nova Scotia and my PhD right here at (the University of B.C.), and I spent the years since building my research career in the United States,” he said.

Caravan said he now gets to “bring back and reinvest in the country and the university that gave me my start.”

The research chairs are named after Eddie Goldenberg, a policy adviser and chief of staff to former prime minister Jean Chrétien.

Goldenberg died last month and Ottawa has said the research chairs were renamed to honour his “decades of leadership that helped strengthen the Canadian research and innovation landscape.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2026.

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