Sudbury’s university ‘by and for’ francophones

It hit Sudbury with the full force of a meteor. Our community was shattered and shaken by the insolvency of Laurentian University, plunging its students, faculty and staff into an uncertain future.

Yet as the Sudburian poet Robert Dickson once wrote: “Sans explosion, cette ville n’existerait pas.” Without the explosion, this city would not exist.

Likewise, without the explosion, the Université de Sudbury would not exist.

After the fire of ash and slag, nascent hope. Optimism, like the tenacious roots and shoots that sprout from Sudbury’s blackened rock horizons.

Empowered with new federal funding, the Université de Sudbury is well on its way to becoming a full-fledged Frenchlanguage university “by and for” francophones. It is on its way to continue its centurylong tradition of contributing to the north’s social, cultural and economic growth, as well as ensuring the development of a strong bilingual, multicultural and tri-societal city.

Founded as a French-language post-secondary institution in 1913, the Université de Sudbury has taken the bold decision to return to its roots, becoming once again an inclusive and diverse francophone institution.

The path of healing and reconciliation is through the empowerment of nations and peoples. It is precisely why the Université de Sudbury ceded the intellectual property of the online courses of the second-oldest Indigenous studies program in North America to Kenjgewin Teg, an Anishnawbek-led learning organization that is moving forward with a “by and for” governance model of Indigenous post-secondary education here in the north. Students and community stakeholders have been clear that they want to see a functional bilingual, multicultural and tri-societal university model here in Sudbury.

The past year has clearly shown that the current model is broken. To uplift everyone in our community, Sudbury universities need clearly focused and well-defined mandates. Just as French-language K-12 schools and colleges succeed spectacularly through autonomous governance, the university sector needs to also embrace models that honour and empower our communities.

However, the announcement of federal funding does give hope that there will be a “Madein-Sudbury” solution for the future, one that embraces autonomous governance, mutual respect and collaboration. These core values are the path forward for Sudbury, and will allow the community not just to heal, but to rebuild and prosper.

Up here, in the north, we are witnessing the dawning light of a new day.

Up here, the Université de Sudbury was born in a spirit of resistance amidst the devastation of Ontario’s Regulation 17, which forbade the teaching of French in our schools.

Up here, on the hallowed grounds of our university, the Franco-Ontarian flag fluttered for the first time — carried by the wind, our dream shared across generations.

Up here, we are carving out the dream of generations to come.