The Coalition nord-ontarienne pour une université de langue française (Northern Ontario Coalition for a French-Language University) has filed two Freedom of Information (FOI) requests with the Ontario government, hoping to learn the reasons behind its refusal to fund the Université de Sudbury.
The refusal to fund the university’s proposal was issued in a statement just before 4 p.m. on June 30. Liz Tuomi, Press Secretary to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, said the Université de Sudbury’s proposal and associated funding request to create a standalone Francophone university in the city “does not reflect the current demand and enrolment trends.” This is especially true, the statement continued, because there is already “existing capacity” in Greater Sudbury and across Ontario to offer French-language programming.
Although it denied the Université de Sudbury proposal, the ministry said it will “continue to work with all of our Francophone education institutes to help deliver high quality post-secondary education for northern and francophone communities.”
On July 20, the Coalition responded to this announcement with a statement, noting their need for transparency by filing FOI requests to the Ministries of Francophone Affairs and the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.
From both ministries, the Coalition is asking for:
- All studies conducted or used by the ministries to establish the demand for French language university programming, those related to enrolment, as well as existing supply, on which the ministries based their refusal of the Université de Sudbury's request.
- The business plan submitted by the Université de Sudbury and the analyses carried out by the ministries.
- Correspondence between ministries, ministers, the Premier's Office, and the Université de Sudbury.
- Briefing notes, presentations, analyses, and e-mails prepared for Ministers in connection with the Université de Sudbury file.
“The Ontario government has chosen not to support the Université de Sudbury without consulting the community and without issuing a warning to the institution”, said Denis Constantineau, Coalition spokesperson. “It has not been very transparent, especially since it made its announcement on the eve of a long weekend. The Coalition will get to the bottom of this and disclose the results of its research.”
According to Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, provincial “institutions have 30 calendar days to process FOI requests except under specific circumstances.”
It has been more than two years since the Université de Sudbury announced its plans to become an autonomous French-language university under the principle of governance “by and for” the Francophone community.
It made the decision to transform its operations to serve the Francophone community in the weeks before Laurentian University announced it was terminating the federation agreement going back to LU’s founding 60 years before.
