Province plans to make northern Ontario schools independent universities

The Ontario government is proposing that the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and Université de Hearst become independent, stand-alone postsecondary institutions.

Facing fire from critics and the post-secondary sector for not doing more to help Sudbury’s Laurentian University with its financial troubles — and in light of this week’s brutal cuts to staffing and programs, especially French-language ones — the government introduced new legislation concerning the two new northern schools on Thursday afternoon.

But the news caught the institutions themselves offguard, with Lakehead University — affiliated with the medical school — quickly issuing a strongly worded letter calling the lack of consultation “astounding” and the decision itself concerning.

The legislation would “formally recognize the integral role these institutions play in providing students with access to medical training and Frenchlanguage studies in northern Ontario,” the province said in a news release.

The school of medicine, known as NOSM, and Hearst “provide specialized and important educational opportunities in northeastern Ontario. They are ready to take the next step in their development and maturity as institutions,” said Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano.

“This new independence will ensure that each institution has the autonomy to grow in ways that more effectively support the access to quality education for students and communities in the region,” he also said in a written release.

Just this week, Laurentian — the first public university in the country to file for creditor protection — laid off more than 100 professors and axed dozens of degree programs.

Currently, Hearst is a federated school of Laurentian, and NOSM is affiliated with both Laurentian and Lakehead universities as a not-for-profit corporation. Hearst will become Ontario’s second French language university, along with Université de l’Ontario français.

But a letter sent Thursday to Romano from Lakehead President Moira McPherson said she is worried about the “decision to sever the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) from its long-standing partnership with Lakehead and Laurentian universities. We have not received any information from your office on what the severing of NOSM will entail. We are deeply concerned that we were only informed of this decision after it had already been made.”