Elections in Ontario | Francophones call for a third university

(Toronto) Ontario voters will go to the polls on June 2 to choose their next government. The Press strolled through Greater Toronto to take the pulse of our neighbors in Canada’s most populous province.

Mylene Crete
The Press

November 15, 2018 marked the francophones of Ontario. Six months after its election, the Progressive Conservative government of Doug Ford announced the end of the Université de l’Ontario français (UOF) project and the dissolution of the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner. Four years later, the university has set up shop in downtown Toronto, but the Francophone watchdog has still not regained its independence.

This “Black Thursday” had the effect of an electric shock. The Ford government quickly did an about-face. It creates a position of French Language Services Commissioner within the Office of the Ombudsman and re-establishes the Ministry of Francophone Affairs.

But Franco-Ontarians want their university. Thousands of them take to the streets and MP Amanda Simard slams the door of the Progressive Conservative Party. She would later join the Liberals.

“It was a time when that government became fully aware of the demands of French Ontario,” notes the rector of the UOF, Pierre Ouellette.

Mr. Ouellette welcomes us to his campus located in one of the most beautiful areas of downtown Toronto, a few steps from Lake Ontario. The university is surrounded by skyscrapers that can be seen from its large windows where abundant light penetrates. The small facility occupies 60,000 sq.² of a new building. The classrooms are modern. Its library is entirely digital.

It was able to see the light of day last September thanks to an agreement concluded between the federal government and Ontario which provides it with funding of $126 million over 8 years. The first year was rather difficult: 90 students enrolled, nearly 70% of whom came from abroad. This is half the target set by his administration.

“We must always remind people that we have launched a new university, with new staff, with new programs in COVID mode with people who, in many cases, did not know each other and had never met” , underlines Mr. Ouellette.

The UOF has the capacity to accommodate 2000 students. The rector hopes to gradually increase their number by the end of the agreement to obtain sustainable funding.

Ford balance sheet

The creation of this first French-language university in Ontario gave rise to the hope of seeing a French-language university network like that of the Université du Québec. The Progressive Conservatives granted autonomy to the Université de Hearst, in the north of the province, which also offers programs exclusively in French.

“Doug Ford’s government has done more for Francophones than the Liberal government has done in 15 years,” defended Francophone Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney during the mid-campaign debate in French.

She was responding to attacks by Liberal candidate Amanda Simard, who accused the Progressive Conservative government of having sent “the message that French in Ontario is not important” and of having “betrayed Franco-Ontarians”.

Sudbury in the line of sight

The Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario (AFO) is now calling for a third university “for and by francophones” in Sudbury to replace the programs slashed by Laurentian University in 2021. This bilingual establishment had eliminated 48% of the programs in French when it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Without study programs in their language nearby, French-speaking students often go into exile in the south of the province or assimilate into the English-speaking majority.

This situation is all the more worrying since the Francophone community is facing a major labor shortage, particularly in education and health.

New Democrats, Liberals and Greens all promise a French-language university in Sudbury. The Progressive Conservatives are awaiting the recommendation of the independent commission responsible for evaluating the quality of post-secondary education before deciding.

“We got to know each other”

“A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the famous Black Thursday in French Ontario,” notes Stéphanie Chouinard, professor of political science at the Royal Military College of Canada. “The government has changed its tune and has nevertheless made significant progress. »

One of these advancements is the modernization of the French Language Services Act led by Minister Mulroney. This legislation was adopted for the first time in 1986. Its new version promotes an active offer and makes it possible to offer new points of service outside the 27 designated regions.

“In an election, it’s not what you’ve done, it’s what you’re going to do that counts for the next four years,” Carol Jolin points out. The president of the AFO says he had a much more attentive ear from the Ford government after the 2018 cuts. “We got to know each other and work together,” he admits.

However, the Progressive Conservatives have no intention of restoring independence to the Francophone watchdog. All the other major parties promise to disaffiliate the French Language Services Commissioner from the Ombudsman’s office to give him some “bite”.