TORONTO- Francophones from centre-south-west Ontario have formally complained to the Ontario Human Rights Commission alleging the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities engaged in systemic discrimination in approving the closing of Collège des Grands Lacs in 2001.
Ontario Public Service Employees Union president Leah Casselman, and Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson expressed support at a news conference at Queen’s Park today.
Casselman blasted the colleges ministry for continuing to support the Conservative decision, which had such a devastating impact on francophones, particularly those belonging to visible minorities. She supported the accusation of systemic discrimination. “There is no other explanation for the shoddy treatment of these workers,
these students, and a whole community.”
Mikhaël Missakabo, a former professor at Collège des Grands Lacs, and a founding member of the group Notre Collège, aimed at the reestablishment of a French college in the region, filed the complaint. “Of the three French community colleges in Ontario, only one had a majority of students of colour, Collège des Grands Lacs,” he
said. About one-third of the staff were also visible minorities, Missakabo said.
Bisson, who spoke out against the closing of the college three years ago, accused the Liberals of a lack of leadership.
Collège des Grands Lacs, which operated for six years (1995-2001), was originally an experimental internet-based “virtual college,” in Toronto, suffered from a lack of effective administration, and had inadequate funding compared to the two other French colleges, la Cité collégiale in Ottawa and Collège Boréal in Sudbury.
Casselman has been unable to obtain a meeting with colleges minister Mary Anne Chambers to discuss this file.
The Ontario Superior Court is expected to decide soon whether the closing of CGL was legal and constitutional, as maintained by the union and community members.
More than 500 people have already signed the on-line petition for the reestablishment of an autonomous French college at: http://www.petitiononline.com/CGL2005/petition.html
-30-
For information:
