Madam Speaker, today I join my NDP colleagues in calling for an immediate federal government intervention with regard to the devastating situation faced by students, faculty and staff at Laurentian University.
First, I want to state that I, along with my NDP colleagues, stand in solidarity with the students, faculty and staff at Laurentian. This is devastating for Sudbury, for the north, for indigenous communities, for francophones living outside Quebec, particularly in Ontario, for women and for Canada as a whole. This is the time for federal leadership. This is the time for federal leadership for the north.
I am joining from my home in Thompson on Treaty 5 territory, the territory of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. Thompson is a sister city to Sudbury. The same mining company, Inco, has operated and been the economic backbone of our cities. I, like many people who grew up here in Thompson, have many friends from Sudbury. Many people go back and forth between our communities. Our stories are intertwined in many ways.
Our communities, like many across the north, have experienced a brutal hollowing out in recent years. Foreign ownership, like the takeover by Vale of Inco, has only meant the loss of good Canadian jobs across the board. It has meant that decisions that deeply affect our communities are no longer made in our country when it comes to our jobs and our future.
The devastation of Laurentian University adds to this. It robs opportunity from northern young people, from indigenous people, from Franco-Ontarians and from working-class young people, whose ability to access a post-secondary education can make all the difference. The north, particularly indigenous communities, has a history of being exploited for the resources and the people for their labour. The loss of a university and access to post-secondary education in our region turns the clock back on everyone.
We as northerners should have the opportunity to be educated in the north. We know that people who are able to access a post-secondary education in the north tend to stay in our communities and regions. As a former instructor for the University College of the North here in northern Manitoba, I know this reality well. I stand in solidarity with students, faculty and staff fighting back.
I also want to share some quotes from friends from Sudbury, advocates in this time of need.
Julie Lalonde wrote, “I don't live in Northern Ontario because youth migration is REAL. I'm one of thousands of young people who grew up in the North but were forced to leave to find work. Laurentian U imploding is horrific for the economy in a way that southern Ontario folks just don't get.”
Caelie Frampton said, “I was taught by amazing queer professors who changed my life. The classroom opened up my world. What's happening at LU should have never been allowed to happen. I'm sad for generations of Indigenous, francophone and all kids from a working class mining town who won't get to go.”
Maggie Frampton wrote, “Laurentian's francophone, indigenous and English programs are integral to the arts community of Sudbury, of northern Ontario and beyond. Many have come to study in Sudbury and discover we have something special. The long-standing institutions created at Laurentian University continue to ingrain our landscape. My question now is, what will happen to the next generation? Who will continue what was started here?”
The bottom line is that we need a federal government that believes in northern Canada, not in terms of slogans but in terms of action, in terms of investment. Northern Canada has one of the youngest populations in the country. There is immense opportunity, but with the shuttering of post-secondary opportunities, we close the door on our future. If we push the north backwards, inequality between our regions grows, and with it, Canada goes backwards too.
We need leadership for Franco-Ontarians, for French-language education, for the rights of francophone people. The future of Canada is at stake.
Post-secondary education in French outside Quebec is already under threat. My colleague from Edmonton Strathcona talked about cuts to Campus Saint-Jean. Major institutions within our education system are struggling to survive. We need federal leadership to support post-secondary education in French.
I would like to share with my colleagues the words of Monique Beaudoin. She said she mourned the loss of these incredible people who greatly contributed to the development of our community and our region, the arts, literature, the economy, the environment and the future. She mourned the collapse of a tri-cultural vision, as symbolic as it was. In terms of management, the people working there were fully devoted. To them it was not just about money, it was hard work over several decades. This was taken from them, just as their land and heritage were taken from them and put in museums. This vision, as fragile as it is, gave her hope that reconciliation on N'Swakamok land may finally be possible.
The survival of Laurentian University is essential to the protection of francophone rights in northern Ontario. The survival of French programs, in both midwifery and nursing programs, is essential to the protection of a woman's right to receive medical care in her language. The survival of Laurentian University is essential to the future of the francophonie and the future of bilingualism in the country.
This is the time for federal leadership on post-secondary education. We must be clear: Post-secondary education should not and cannot be a commodity; it is a right. Post-secondary institutions should not be run like corporations, and I want to add my voice to those of my colleagues opposing the Laurentian University administration's application for creditor protection under the CCAA. This problem, this crisis, requires all levels of government to step in right now for the good of students, faculty and the future of an institution that is at the heart of a community, of a region and of our country.
There has been immense concern shared about the future of the indigenous studies program. Will Morin, an indigenous professor at Laurentian, has fought against the possible termination of the indigenous studies program. If it were to go, it would represent a significant turning away from Laurentian University's tricultural mandate and its commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's call to action on indigenous education. It would also have an immense impact on indigenous communities in Canada, and it would represent the first indigenous studies program to be shuttered since the discipline began in 1969.
As students have pointed out, “I think that's what we've learned, realizing our professors aren't just our professors in the academic sense, but our teachers, our elders, and our knowledge holders. That it isn't just losing a professor. It's like losing an auntie, a grandfather or grandmother.”
As my colleagues in the NDP have said clearly, this requires a long-term sustained commitment to post-secondary education that is not premised on making a profit. Instead, it should be a post-secondary education that is seen as vital to our personal development and to the betterment of our communities and society.
We have a lot to learn from the COVID crisis. One of the biggest lessons, I would argue, is that the neo-liberal status quo must go. The constant push for profit, including from our post-secondary institutions, has led us to a point like this. The emphasis on the individual over community has also led us to a point like this. The exploitation and marginalization of working people, indigenous communities and women, and so many others, render us all worse off.
The fight for Laurentian is more than a fight for an institution. It is a fight for the future of our country. A brighter future must come out of this crisis. Let us be on the right side of history and find a way to support the students, faculty and staff at Laurentian.
In closing, I will share a few words by Miriam Cusson, a professor of theatre, one of the programs that has been cut at Laurentian University. This is just a small snippet of her poem Cher Robert:
A brutal attack
Against midwives
First nations
Franco-Ontarians
Students and immigrant students from francophone countries
They tried to silence us
To cut out our tongues
They forget that we will remember.
This will be yours to discover