Montréal, February 13, 2012 – The Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade and Minister Responsible for the Capitale-Nationale Region, Mr. Sam Hamad, has announced a $2.8 million investment in the Cancer Research Society (CRS), including $1.4 million from Ministère du Développement économique, de l’Innovation et de l’Exportation (MDEIE), for a project by researchers Jack Siemiatycki of Université de Montréal and Michael Pollak of McGill University to study links between the environment and cancer.
“It is essential that our government provide quality health care for all and contribute to better quality of life, so it’s important that we offer our researchers appropriate funding and state-of-the-art technology. Since deployment of the Québec Research and Innovation Strategy in 2007, our government has injected over $2.3 billion into this strategic sector of our economy. Add tax credits and core ministry funding to that, and that’s $11.5 billion that our government has invested in research and innovation,” stated Mr. Hamad.
The Research and Prevention Group on Environment-Cancer (GRePEC) will receive $15 million in funding over five years, provided in equal parts by CRS and MDEIE. The research program is to study links between environmental factors and cancer.
“GRePEC was created in 2010 to fund major research projects in specialized sectors to shed light on how the environment affects the development and progression of cancer, Canada’s number one cause of death. We already know that the environment plays a role in virtually 90% of all cancer cases. Funding environment–cancer research is therefore a priority for CRS, and has been since 2006,” stated CRS scientific director Mario Chevrette.
“Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS) is very proud to have played a part in this initiative and to have partnered with CRS and MDEIE to oversee program implementation and evaluate the scientific merit of the projects submitted. I wish to congratulate the successful team for their tremendous research proposal and the real hope it holds out for everyone in Québec,” added interim FRSQ scientific director Claude Lazure.
About GRePEC
GRePEC was created through a partnership between CRS, FRQS, and MDEIE, with CRS and MDEIE each investing $7.5 million over five years. Rio Tinto and the Environmental Health Research Network are also program partners.
GRePEC seeks to collect as much scientific proof as possible on how environmental factors influence the risk of cancer. It favors multidisciplinary projects with multiple partners and concrete results as well as translational research, i.e., “from bench to bedside.”
About the Cancer Research Society (CRS)
Founded in 1945, the Cancer Research Society is a national, not-for-profit organization whose sole mission is to fund cancer research exclusively and to offer seed money to the most promising original ideas, projects, and researchers across Canada. In the past 20 years, it has provided over $100 million to some 900 cancer research projects in the country, including over $35 million in the past five years. For more information, see www.src-crs.ca.
About Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS)
FRQS’s mission is to support health research for the greater well-being of Quebecers. The organization seeks to accomplish this by promoting and financially assisting health research, sharing knowledge and training researchers, establishing partnerships that will spur R&D in Québec, and publicizing research abroad. The fund reports to MDEIE. For more information, see wwww.frqs.gouv.qc.ca.
Àbout the Québec Research and Innovation Strategy (QRIS)
Entitled Mobilize, Innovate, Prosper, the updated Québec Research and Innovation Strategy seeks to strengthen and spur scientific research in Québec while stepping up innovation, new product development, and collaboration, to better position Québec businesses in leading markets. It has put Québec resolutely on a course to a green economy, the economy of tomorrow.
Through the QRIS, including for 2007–2010, Québec has invested over $2.3 billion on research and investment, for a total government outlay of some $11.5 billion once tax credits and core ministry funding are added.
For more on MDEIE programs and services, see www.mdeie.gouv.qc.ca/programmes. To receive MDEIE press releases, follow the RSS feed at www.mdeie.gouv.qc.ca/rss.
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