In December 2024, the CFHT Board of Directors made the following recommendation: 

The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer remains an exciting and competitive concept. The Board appreciates the efforts of all those who have worked over the years to help define MSE’s technical and scientific readiness. MSE’s timeline is, however, strongly delayed, and at the present time the Observatory’s priority must be to ensure it continues to operate as a scientifically effective facility into the 2030s. For this reason, The Board does not approve any additional allocation of internal funds towards MSE activities, beyond those absolutely necessary to responsibly and safely bring current activities to a stop. The ultimate realization of MSE in some form currently remains the best plan for the long term future of CFHT. The Observatory, through consultation with the SAC and the User community may, however, explore alternatives to MSE that achieve compelling science that utilizes the unique site on Mauna Kea. The Board remains committed to achieving a scientifically productive future for CFHT beyond 2033, building on its long tradition of excellence and the outstanding work of the CFHT staff.

Following this recommendation, CFHT has halted all MSE activities.  While MSE remains the desired long-term future for the CFHT site, our immediate focus is to ensure that CFHT remains a viable operational entity until MSE can begin under the new astronomy lease at Maunakea. As suggested by the Board, we also discuss with our User Community new ideas for evaluation and possible implementation during this interim period, for example in the form of instrument or telescope upgrades. We invite you all to contribute to these discussions, which we’ll be holding at our next User Meeting, May 26-28, Quebec, Canada, and remotely.