Ontario’s French Language Services Commissioner Kelly Burke will file her first major investigation report since taking office in 2020 on Thursday morning. Her investigation into program cuts at Laurentian University is eagerly awaited. by several members of the Franco-Ontarian community.
Kelly Burke announced the start of the investigation in June after receiving several complaints about the elimination of 69 programs, including 28 in French, at the establishment. As a partially designated organization under the French Language Services Act (LSF), Laurentian has had to offer since 2014 French-language programs leading to thirteen different diplomas. Commissioner Burke is looking, among other things, to determine whether the university has met its obligations under the Act.
Me. Samantha Puchala, a Franco-Ontarian lawyer, is impatiently awaiting the tabling of the report. “It’s like waiting for a decision from the Supreme Court,” illustrates the former president of the Association of Francophone Students of Laurentian University. The importance of the report cannot be overestimated, argues Me. François Larocque, professor specializing in language rights at the University of Ottawa. “I can’t wait to read it,” he says.
Responsibility of the university
Opinions are divided on the responsibility of the university, which is the subject of one of the commissioner’s three questions. According to Me. François Larocque, the establishment failed in its obligations by cutting programs leading to some of the thirteen diplomas and by not justifying its decision, as it must do under article 7 of the Law. . “We saw zero attempts in the months preceding and at the time of the cuts, of justification,” says the language rights specialist.
Some have a narrower interpretation of the designation. According to Me. Samantha Puchala, the designation protects the obtaining of thirteen diplomas and not access to the programs which specifically lead to them. “I could see a situation where a violation of the law is not determined,” she said. The lawyer looked into the matter in 2015 when she was a student at Laurentian and determined that all programs that could lead to a bachelor of arts could be closed except one “and technically the law could be complied with”.
The former civil servant Didier Pomerleau, who handled files concerning the francophone post-secondary education for seven years within three departments — including that of Colleges and Universities — is not sure of the responsibility of the university either. “Most programs [désignés] — maybe even all of it — still seem to be offered,” he observes. “If we’re talking about the Laurentian infraction, it’s hypothetical, I think,” he said.
By e-mail, Marilissa Gosselin, press secretary for the Minister of Francophone Affairs Caroline Mulroney, pointed out that the university first suspended two of the thirteen degrees designated under the Act, namely the Master of Arts and that of the Master in human kinesis. The school is developing new programs to replace them, she says.
Role of Ministries
On the other hand, Kelly Burke looked at the actions of the ministries of Francophone Affairs and that of Colleges and Universities and of its minister, Ross Romano. “Has the French Language Services Act been taken into account at the ministry? Did the department itself remember that Laurentian was subject to it?” wonders Me. François Larocque.
The government and its Minister of Colleges and Universities have faced criticism from opposition parties since the case began in 2021. In February, the Ontario Union of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) has also called for the resignation of Ross Romano. In the same month, the Minister revealed that he had become aware of the financial problems six months earlier. As a backdrop, the ministry cut tuition fees by 10% for Ontario students in 2019 and has frozen them since.
Starting next year, university funding will also be partly based on ten performance indicators. “Outcomes prioritization will encourage colleges and universities to be more efficient and specialized and to focus on what they do best,” Minister Romano said at the time of the announcement in 2020. potential of such a report is to make us reflect and to see different indicators when it comes to a bilingual and francophone institution,” underlines Mr. François Larocque.
“I think we have a larger problem with the funding of universities [en Ontario] and there is an even more severe impact on French-speaking universities”, observes Me. Samantha Puchala. According to Didier Pomerleau, employees of the Ministry of Colleges and Universities must above all ask themselves what is the best way to ensure the strategic objectives of the government, that is to say to ensure access to French-language programming post-secondary education in the North. “Is it through Laurentian and its designation? Or are there other mechanisms? “, he asks.
The two departments have “done everything humanly possible” to prevent such a situation at Laurentian, assures Matthew Conway, former director of Francophone affairs for Minister Caroline Mulroney. The employees of the two departments are in good faith, he said, and have the Francophonie at heart. “For me, all the blame lies with Laurentian and not with the two ministries mentioned,” says Matthew Conway.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.