'It feels wrong' to put Franco-Ontario university in Toronto, says NDP MPP
MPP France Gélinas ‘disappointed’ report recommends Toronto as location for new French university
Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas is applauding the recommendations that would establish a French-language university in Ontario, but says "it feels wrong" to put such a campus in Toronto.
Gélinas's comments came after former commissioner of official languages Dyane Adam released her provincial report on the need for a Franco-Ontarian university.
"What the report says is yes, we do need a Franco-Ontarian university," Gélinas said. "And that campus should be built in Toronto."
But Gélinas says building the university in Toronto — far from Francophone clusters like Hearst, Timmins and Sudbury — means fewer Franco-Ontarians would likely travel for their post-secondary education.
"We have over 100,000 Franco-Ontarians that live here in northeastern Ontario alone, why do we have to travel?" Gélinas said. "This is wrong."
"If the programs are available where [Francophones] are, they will pursue a post-secondary education," Gélinas said. "For a lot of them, they give up. The more accessible university education is, the more educated our population becomes. And we all win."
The province currently has two publicly funded French-language colleges — Collège Boréal in Sudbury and La Cité in Ottawa.
It also has nine French-language and bilingual schools offering university programs, including Laurentian University and the University of Ottawa.
Adam's report the first step
Gélinas has lobbied hard for a French-only university, proposing a private member's bill in 2015 to explore the feasibility of a standalone campus as opposed to a bilingual university such as Laurentian University.
Adam's report is the first step in what Gélinas hopes ends with a university all Franco-Ontarians can be proud of.
The Wynne government, she said, plans on supporting Adam's recommendations, but hasn't put any plan into action or stated a preference of location.
"Right now the only thing that has happened is that Dr. Adam's report has been made public," Gelinas said. "And the government will follow up on the recommendations with a bill."
"We haven't seen that bill, so I'll reserve my comments until we've seen it."
With files from Angela Gemmill