BY KEITH LACEY
No student with a learning disability wishing to access education in Northern Ontario should be denied access because of where they live thanks to a new consortium involving every post-secondary institution in the north.
The Northern Ontario Assessment and Resource Centre (NOARC), a consortium of northern colleges and universities providing assessment services for students with learning disabilities, officially opened its doors Tuesday morning at Cambrian College.
The 11 institutions involved include Cambrian College, College Boreal, Laurentian University, Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Canadore College in North Bay, Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Nipissing University in North Bay, Northern College in Timmins,
Sault College and Universite de Hearst.
Susan Alcorn-MacKay, director of disability services at Cambrian College and director of NOARC, said this new partnership agreement is historic for people in Northern Ontario who suffer from various learning disabilities.
As many as 15 percent of the general population suffer from one form of learning disability or another. Not only will they be able to be assessed, but will be able to access technology, research and teaching methods that will allow them to succeed in the classroom following assessment, she said.
A large section of the second floor of the Glenn Crombie Centre at Cambrian will act as home base for NOARC.
The bricks and mortar to build NOARC and install equipment was $1.5 million, and FedNor has guaranteed $725,000 in annual funding for at least one more year under the province?s Higher Learning initiative, said Alcorn-MacKay.
A pilot project offering assessment services for students with learning disabilities across the north has been ongoing for two years.
