Official Languages Committee on June 3rd, 2021

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank you, Mr. Riopel and Mr. Constantineau, for having worked for decades on behalf of the francophone community throughout northern Ontario and elsewhere in Canada. I also thank you for your testimony.

As I have only three minutes, I'll get straight to my questions. My first concerns the letter you sent to Mr. Ross Romano, the Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities.

What are the next steps? Is the application related to the $5 million that Minister Mélanie Joly already offered the province of Ontario?

[Pierre Riopel]

I'm the person, as the Chairman of the Council of Regents, who signed the letter. The key request in the letter was for the immediate transfer of all French-language programs and services from Laurentian University to the University of Sudbury.

Needless to say, we also asked for ongoing funding.

We had not reached the stage of laying claim to all or part of the $5 million.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Right.

You said you had the support of the local MPs.

Can you tell us more about Mr. Carol Jolin, the President of the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario? Can you talk about the support you've been receiving from northern Ontario, and elsewhere?

[Denis Constantineau]

Mr. Riopel alluded to this. There was a letter signed by 350 university professors. I have a list of about 40 organizations that sent letters of support and adopted resolutions at their respective boards of directors. Some associations represent 50 to 100 organizations province-wide.

The support comes from all sectors, not only from people who teach at university or who work in education in general. There is support from health sector workers, because we know that education is a key social determinant of health. There is support from people who provide services to seniors or who work in early childhood education, as well as from school boards, of course. And then there is very broad support from the community on this issue.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

My fellow citizens also talk about the issues surrounding the Université de l'Ontario français, in Toronto, and about Université de Hearst and the University of Sudbury.

I know that you have only been working on this for a few months, but can you explain how the creation of a network might reassure people in the community who might worry about seeing too many universities here and there? My fellow citizens have spoken to me about the need for a network of this kind.

[Pierre Riopel]

I would say to you, Mr. Serré, that we're talking about geography here. I think that's the essential element. We're also talking about autonomy. Université de Hearst and the Université de l'Ontario français want to be autonomous within a network and want to collaborate on behalf of our young people.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Riopel and Mr. Serré.

We have enough time for two brief interventions.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor for a minute and a half.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Thank you.

There appears to be a contradiction. On the one hand, we hear a lot from the various federations of school boards that there are not not enough places in francophone schools. On the other, Mr. Haché told us that very few students had been enrolling in the French-language programs that were cut. We heard that the Université de l'Ontario français was having trouble recruiting students.

How to explain all of that?

[Denis Constantineau]

I'll have a go.

The day after the programs were cut, my son sent me a message saying that he could no longer study at Laurentian University because he had a BA in history and an intermediate senior teaching certificate, both programs that were cut.

First of all, you can't attract young people to the university if it doesn't offer the programs they want. Secondly, when only partial programs are available and the students have to take courses in English to complete them, it's not attractive for them and they look elsewhere. Program availability is essential.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Riopel, what do you think about these recruitment problems, and the decline in enrolments in those Francophone programs that still exist?

Is that what's happening?

[Pierre Riopel]

With the right approach, it's possible to recruit students. At Laurentian University, English-speaking students have been recruited from abroad for about 12 years now, whereas it's only been over the past three or four years that Francophone students have been recruited from abroad.

So recruitment is definitely an additional problem, but energy and money are also required.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Riopel.

We'll end this round with Mr. Boulerice.

Mr. Boulerice, you have the floor for a minute and a half.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll try to make good use of my time .

I'd like to go back to the impact of having educational programs available in French. You said that it had a historic impact in northern Ontario in several fields, including literature and midwifery. It also had an impact on the vitality and future of francophone communities.

What do you feel will be the outcome of not having a French-language university in northern Ontario on the future and the vitality of your communities?

[Denis Constantineau]

I can speak about this from a practical standpoint. I'm the executive director of a health centre that works closely with researchers at Laurentian University in areas like immigration, poverty and homelessness. We would lose access to these researchers, their knowledge and their direct contribution to our community.

[Pierre Riopel]

A university is essential to a community's development. If we operate in a bilingual framework, that's what we'll get. What we are proposing as a project will in fact ensure the vitality of my community, of our Franco-Ontarian community in Sudbury, which depends heavily on university education. I know something about this because I worked in the college system for a few years. It's exactly the same principle.

The francophone community is alive and well here because of the presence of Collège Boréal.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you. That's all the time we have for this meeting.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for having agreed to take part. In passing, I'd like to congratulate our analyst and our clerk for having brought you together this afternoon. You already know one another well.

I would now like to thank Mr. Denis Constantineau, of the Northern Ontario Coalition for a French-language University, and Mr. Pierre Riopel, the Chaiman of the Council of Regents at the University of Sudbury.

Thank you.

I would also like to thank the technicians and the entire team who were with us this afternoon.

On that note, I will adjourn the meeting.

The meeting is adjourned.