By Ben Rowe
Graduating Cambrian College students attempting to get placements this spring are been affected by the provincial government employees? strike.
?We don?t ask students to cross picket lines, that?s not part of their placement,? said Linda Wilson of Cambrian?s marketing and institutional relations department.
Students whose diploma depends on completing placements may be forced to wait, delaying their graduation and affecting future job opportunities.
The fire services program had students scheduled to do a two-week training program at a fire college in Gravenhurst; however, because of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union strike, the students were only able to complete two of the 14 days.
Arrangements are being made by Chris Bartlett, dean of the school of creative arts and open learning, to have the students train in Oakville for two weeks in May.
The program with one of the highest number of students requiring placements is the corrections services program, which requires students to do a five-week placement at a correctional facility.
The program lost 15 placements in total, leaving students and organizers scrambling to find replacement locations, according to Rod Fairey, a corrections services instructor.
The placements included eight at the Sudbury jail and others at the Cecil Facer youth detention centre. Some of the students will now work with the Greater Sudbury Police Services and at a halfway house that deals with federal offenders.
Matthew Szanto is one of those corrections students affected. He was supposed to work at the Cecil Facer youth detention centre, but is now at the Larch Halfway House.
He does support the men and women on the line.
?We support them fully and we hope they get (what they want), because they?re helping us in the long run.?
