Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank the members of the committee for having me, and for their interest in French-language postsecondary education in Mid-Northern Ontario.
I had a discussion with my colleague Denis Constantineau to prepare for this meeting and fully agree with what he said today.
My name is Pierre Riopel and I am Franco-Ontarian. I'm the Chairman of the Council of Regents at the University of Sudbury. My 30-year career in education has been as a school- and college-level administrator. One of my former colleagues is with us today.
I have the soul of a teacher, and would ask you to allow the history teacher I once was to give you a short history of the University of Sudbury, an institution that is dear to me.
In this history, there are four important dates.
The first is 1913. That's when the Jesuits founded Collège du Sacré-Cœur in Sudbury, a French-language classical college. This was against the background of Regulation 17, which prohibited education in French in Ontario.
Collège du Sacré-Cœur became Université de Sudbury in 1957. Everything was in French—administration and teaching.
In 1960, Laurentian University, A bilingual institution, opened its doors. That's when the Laurentian Federation was established, with the University of Sudbury as a member.
This model operated successfully for 60 years. However, we have all just witnessed the withdrawal of Laurentian University from the francophone side of things, but never more so that in the process unwinding publicly before the Superior Court of Ontario under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the CCAA.
The final date is 2021. Under creditor protection, Laurentian University offhandedly and abruptly disbanded the Federation and massively cut back its programs to eliminate all kinds of services and jobs.
Rector Haché made some revealing admissions when he was cross-examined on April 23 as part of the CCAA process. The Laurentian University application under the CCAA is approximately 1,500 pages long in four volumes. No mention is made of the French Language Services Act. Rector Haché expressed no concern about Laurentian University's inability to continue to provide existing services in French. None! However, Laurentian University has since 2014 been designated under this program, which requires it to rigorously maintain specific French-language faculties and programs.
Moreover, by severing federative links between Laurentian and the University of Sudbury, the latter lost its ability to fulfil its obligations under its designation in the French Language Services Act. None of this appears in the legal documents presented by Rector Haché to the court.
Overnight, the University of Sudbury lost its right to teach students of the Laurentian Federation. Before Laurentian submitted its application under the CCAA, on February 1, there had been no consultation with the francophone community. Likewise, there was no consultation prior to the announcement by Laurentian University on April 12 of significant cuts to its French-language programs. The cuts are the outcome of financial calculations without regard to the repercussions of these decisions on students, teaching staff, employees and the entire communityx.
In light of these events, the University of Sudbury is currently focusing all its efforts on creating a new future. We have hired some legal consultants, including constitutional expert Mr. Ronald Caza; we adopted two resolutions on March 11, one of which is to transform the University of Sudbury into a French-language university. We also struck two special committees, one francophone and another for indigenous communities, and have established a francophone working group to develop a business plan with the assistance of PGF Consultantsx.
As my colleague Mr. Constantineau mentioned, we have received a great deal of community support. We also received a petition signed by more than 400 francophone professors from across Canada and around the world. A campaign was also set in motion by the Assemblée de la francophonie de l'Ontario, the AF0, which led to Rector Haché and the chair of the board of governors receiving 3,000 letters of support from individuals.
The time has come to realize this French-language university project, given that a university like this has been wanted, imagined and desired by several generations of Franco-Ontarians. The time has come to create our French-language university in Sudbury, by, for, and with the Franco-Ontarian community. It will be a historic occasion.
Thank you very much for your attention. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.