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Former Premier visits Collège Boréal

Former Ontario Premier Bob Rae visited Collège Boréal on Nov. 27, to speak about the school's 20-year anniversary, and French-language post-secondary education in the province.
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Former Ontario Premier Bob Rae visited Collège Boréal on Nov. 27, to speak about the school's 20 year anniversary, and French-language post secondary education in the province. Photo: Matt Durnan.
Former Ontario Premier Bob Rae visited Collège Boréal on Nov. 27, to speak about the school's 20-year anniversary, and French-language post-secondary education in the province.

Rae spoke to a crowd of around 60 people, while administration from Collège Boréal campuses in Barrie, Hamilton, Hearst, Kapuskasing, London, Nipissing, Témiskaming, Timmins, and Toronto tuned in via video conference.

The former Premier addressed the importance of French-language post-secondary institutions, referencing the French Language Services Act that was passed some 25 years ago.

“Once we passed the French Languages Services act we really had up our game because we had to make sure that we had nurses and therapists and people involved that could actually speak French,” said Rae.

In terms of the evolution of Collège Boréal and where the future of French post-secondary education in Ontario is headed, Rae believes that the future is going to be more global and institutions around the world will be competing for students.

“It's true for Francophone and Anglophone institutions, that trend will not diminish, there will be increasing demands from the Francophone community,” said Rae

“The age of people taking courses will continue to evolve and we'll continue to see older people taking courses, and it's important for the institutions to be student-driven because if the students don't get the services they want from one institution they'll go to another one.”

Collège Boréal's campuses form the largest French-language post-secondary network in Ontario and also boasts the highest graduation rate of Ontario's 24 community colleges.

As just one of two French-language colleges in the province, the other La Cité collégiale  in Ottawa, Rae fielded questions as to whether or not there would ever be a French-language university. At present, Laurentian University and University of Ottawa offere bilingual programs, but there are no strictly French universities.

“I don't think we know exactly where it will evolve to, I think it's up to the communities, and there is a debate to be had,” said Rae. “Both Laurentian and (Univesity of) Ottawa have a very long history of providing French-language education are effectively bilingual institutions, so I think it's up to the communities themselves to decide.”

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