Laurentian University violated Ontario’s French Language Services Act by eliminating all programs leading to two designated degrees, Ontario’s French Language Services Commissioner Kelly Burke concludes in an investigation report filed Thursday.
The Commissioner began her investigation in June after receiving 60 complaints about the cuts to 72 programs, including 29 in French, at the University of Northern Ontario. Due to partial designation under the French Language Services Act, the institution should have ensured that these degrees could be obtained in French.
In addition to investigating Laurentian’s obligations, the Commissioner and her team also looked into those of the Departments of Colleges and Universities and Francophone Affairs. According to Kelly Burke, these two ministries have shown “laxity”. “Ministries have not respected their responsibilities to ensure the protection of services in French at the university,” she says.
For its part, the university did not consult these two ministries to discuss the impact of its decisions, “although it realized that its financial difficulties could have repercussions on the degree programs appointed”. The investigation also revealed that the post-secondary institution had cut 72 programs and not 69, as the university had communicated. In addition, 29 programs in French have been canceled and not 28.
Kelly Burke also reports confusion over the scope of Laurentian’s designation. The wording of the designation appears to indicate that the programs leading to the designated degrees are protected under the Act, the investigation report read. “However, the three organizations surveyed told us that it was really only degrees that were protected,” writes Kelly Burke.
The Commissioner found that the university had violated the Act by interpreting the designation in the most “narrow” way, she wrote, that the designation applied only to degrees. To avoid confusion in the future, the Commissioner recommends that the Ministry of Francophone Affairs clearly communicate its obligations to Laurentian in writing and that the explanation be made public. This is one of 19 recommendations made in the report.
Failure in the process
The breaches of obligations did not begin in February, when the university took shelter from its creditors, and are not limited to the elimination of the two degrees. First, the only program leading to one of the designated diplomas – the Masters in physical activity – was abolished in July 2020, seven months before the start of the restructuring, notes the commissioner. The university withdrew this service “unequivocally” despite the designation.
Under section 10 of the French Language Services Act, these changes should also have been subject to public consultation and approval by the Lieutenant Governor General in Council, the investigation report states. . “The failure of the university to follow the steps required in the RSA before eliminating all programs leading to these designated degrees was a breach of its obligations,” writes Kelly Burke.
Where were the ministries?
The Ministry of Colleges and Universities was informed as early as December 2020 that Laurentian University was considering sheltering itself from its creditors. From that moment and until April 2021, information meetings took place between the ministry and the establishment, but the obligations “were not discussed”, we learn in the report.
The French Language Services Act was not discussed in official exchanges between the two departments and the University until April 21, 2021, the report said. Informal discussions reportedly took place in 2021, the inquiry document suggests, “but the Ministry of Colleges and Universities was unable to provide us with documentation of the content of the informal conversations.”
The Ministry of Colleges and Universities, like other government departments, has a French Language Services Coordinator. These individuals are responsible for obtaining information from designated organizations such as Laurentian that report to their departments in order to assess their compliance with the Act. But the department did not consult its coordinator about Laurentian between July 2020 and April 2021.
The Ministry of Francophone Affairs should adopt a more proactive approach to the application of the French Language Services Act, recommends Kelly Burke. The Ministry must play a “leadership role” as an expert body in the field. Currently, “the ministry expects designated agencies and sponsoring ministries to report any designation issues to it,” the report says.
“I encourage the Ministry of Francophone Affairs to exercise leadership to ensure that the language rights of Francophones are respected and protected in Ontario,” writes Kelly Burke.