April 12th, 2021
April 12th, 2021
QUEEN’S PARK – Sudburians and people across Ontario will not sit by while Doug Ford uses the CCAA process to cut Laurentian programs, faculty and staff, said NDP MPPs Jamie West (Sudbury), France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), and the NDP’s critics for Francophone Affairs, Guy Bourgouin (Mushkegowuk-James Bay) and Colleges and Universities, Laura Mae Lindo (Kitchener Centre), after media reported 40 French language programs and 69 programs in total are slated to be cut at Laurentian.
“Ford’s cuts to Laurentian will devastate Sudbury’s community and economy. A publicly-funded school should never have been put in the position of needing creditor protection in the first place. If it were properly funded by the last few governments, it would not be in crisis now,” said West. “The livelihood of faculty members are at stake, and students are worried about their future. This was the wrong way to go and the Ford government set the path. Sudburians will continue to press the Ford government to stop the cuts and to give Laurentian the funding it needs to remain intact and to keep its unique tricultural and bilingual mandate.”
“This is déjà vu. This is the ‘Black Thursday’ of Nov. 15, 2018’s attack on Ontario’s Francophone community all over again. Doug Ford is cutting francophone programs at Laurentian and Franco-Ontarians will oppose it every inch of the way. The community has fought over a century for the right to education in French. Doug Ford is trying to undo the struggle of generations of Franco-Ontarians to their constitutional right to education in their language,” said Bourgouin.
“Franco-Ontarians should not have to leave their homes in northern Ontario to go get their education in Toronto, Ottawa or Quebec. One third of the population in Northern Ontario is francophone and education in French must be provided in Northern Ontario. Doug Ford is cutting 40 French programs at Laurentian University by using a CCAA process so that he can avoid responsibility and save a buck. We denounce these cuts and hold Ford responsible. We call on him to stop the cuts to education in French at Laurentian now. It’s his responsibility. The French language and culture in Northern Ontario are at stake,” said Gélinas.
“The ripple effect of these decisions are already being felt across Ontario. Between the potential loss of the Indigenous Studies Program that provides access to higher education for Indigenous students who are often left behind, to the loss of tuition exemption for current and former youth in the care of the Children’s Aid society pursuing their first post-secondary degree, to Francophone communities who saw Laurentian as their home where the French language was valued and honoured, these sudden changes are devastating,” said Lindo.
“As we learn about these cuts today, Doug Ford and Minister Ross Romano are allowing this devastation to take place. The minister promised Ontario that students would be protected and now all we see are students, faculty and staff suffering because the minister refused to invest in Laurentian. Romano's refusal to invest in colleges and universities will only make things worse.”