In the wake of the news of the Laurentian layoffs and the provincial government’s unwillingness to assist the situation there in any direct financial fashion, a new disruption to northern Ontario’s universities was announced. The Ontario Government apparently without consulting with the affected stakeholders is now proposing that the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and the Université de Hearst become independent, stand- alone universities. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) opened in 2005 and is currently a not-for-profit corporation of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and Laurentian University in Sudbury. Obviously, the province is using the current restructuring and chaos at Laurentian to pursue other agendas that include interfering in existing corporate arrangements. Clearly, it does not have enough on its hands with the pandemic.
The creation of NOSM was a long-term effort by many in northern Ontario and since its opening 2005 an ongoing partnership has been forged with university faculty and staff on both campuses, health-care providers, Indigenous communities, community and regional business leaders. The academic oversight provided by Lakehead and Laurentian has created a unique curriculum that has trained over 600 physicians in a learning model that spans the entire region and conducted research and training relevant to health needs in the north. NOSM has made use of infrastructure – buildings, administration, services and otherwise – on both campuses that have generated substantial cost savings for the government. Given the Ontario government has already stressed university finances by cutting tuition 10 percent and freezing it and keeping provincial grants frozen, why would it continue to stress specific institutions in northern Ontario further by subjecting them to the disruption and costs of tearing asunder something that is working?
This development is really quite remarkable, and one wonders if the province is planning to sever the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine from its affiliation with McMaster or unilaterally grant the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine independent status also? Probably not, because those are settled southern schools in the provincial heartland and the core of Ontario civilization which is nestled in a 10-kilometer swath alongside the 401 Highway corridor. Meanwhile, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine is so far away and therefore is still considered part of Ontario’s colonial administration heritage. The colonialist overtones of this intrusive activity are even more remarkable given that NOSM in particular has a focus on rural/remote and indigenous health and services. Or, has the provincial government already obtained buy-in from First Nations in Ontario’s North? There has been silence so far from Alvin Fiddler, the Grand Chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation who is usually quick to respond to injustice.
The provincial government news release calls this action “Steps to Strengthen Postsecondary Education in Northern Ontario.” How making NOSM with 460 students and Hearst with 160 students separate independent degree granting institutions strengthens the system by adding two tiny universities that will require endless subsidization beyond what they are already getting is considered sound public policy is a good question. And one imagines that in the case of NOSM, the fact that it was on two campuses was never something that it liked and may even be complicit with the government in getting separate status so they can move to a shiny new campus in one location. After all, even if the province did not consult with Lakehead or Laurentian before announcing their proposal, they must have discussed it with NOSM’s administration, right? I would not be surprised if NOSM’s future new stand-alone home is a nice new mega building and campus in Sault Ste. Marie, home of the current minister of Colleges and Universities. Who benefits from government policy is always a good question to ask.
