The National School of Furniture and Cabinetmaking (ENME), located at 5445, avenue de De Lorimier, in Montreal, will close its doors in 2027, announced the management of the Cégep de Victoriaville which oversees the institution, Monday, by communicated. Employees and students are in shock.
Recruitment challenges and financial issues relating to the maintenance of cutting-edge equipment can explain the difficult decision, according to the management of the establishment.
“This is an important page in the history of the Cégep which is being turned and it is a difficult decision to make,” summarized the general director of the Cégep de Victoriaville, Denis Deschamps.
“We are aware of the impacts that this decision will have in several respects, particularly for the staff members of the Montreal campus who have developed a strong sense of belonging there,” he continued.
The resolution confirming the sale of the building located at 5445, avenue De Lorimier was adopted by the members of the board of directors on February 19.
Photo Francis Halin
Missing income
After four years of “approaches to the Ministry of Higher Education and partners of the CEGEP and ENME” to find ways to increase revenues, the Cégep de Victoriaville claims to have failed to find the solution to bail out its coffers.
Note that this closure concerns the National School of Furniture and Cabinetmaking (ENME), and not the Montreal School of Furniture Trades (EMMM), which continues its activities normally by supplying Bombardier with “the vast majority of our important succession in cabinetmaking.
“Bombardier will maintain its relationship with the CEGEP directly in Victoriaville from where we annually welcome a few method agents in support of cabinetmaking operations,” indicated Marie-Andrée Charron of Bombardier at Newspaper.
Students and employees in shock
The day after the announcement, Tuesday noon, the students of the school caught by The newspaper in the cafeteria had long faces.
“It’s a shock. I find that very unfortunate,” lamented Nicolas Guichard, 19, who is in his second session in cabinetmaking at the National School of Furniture and Cabinetmaking (ENME).
Samuel Tétreault, storekeeper at ENME
Photo Francis Halin
“It was an experience to spend here with all the passion and creativity. Something was happening in that school,” shared Samuel Tétreault, 39, a storekeeper at ENME, a graduate of the institution.
“It’s an accounting decision,” said Louis-Philippe Vromet, also a storekeeper and a graduate of the school, just a stone’s throw from him.
Photo Francis Halin
“It’s pitiful. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot in the long term, that’s for sure. We’ll have to start all over again from scratch when everyone has gone their separate ways. That’s sadness,” he concluded.
Highlights
Graduates of furniture and cabinetmaking techniques can work in the manufacturing of residential, office or hotel furniture. They also have the skills to work in architectural carpentry companies to design and make furniture, cabinets and even wooden ceilings.
– With the collaboration of Martin Jolicoeur