Official presentation of Glendon’s partial designation under Ontario’s French Language Services Act: Marie-Lison Fougère, Deputy Minister of Francophone Affairs; Madeleine Meilleur, Minister of Francophone Affairs; Mamdouh Shoukri, President, York University; Rhonda Lenton, Vice-President Academic & Provost, York University; Donald Ipperciel, Principal, Glendon Campus.
Last Wednesday York University’s bilingual Glendon campus community celebrated its partial designation as a French-language service provider under Ontario’s French Language Services Act in the presence of Minister Madeleine Meilleur and Dyane Adam, Canada’s former Official Languages Commissioner and former Glendon Principal.
This event was part of Glendon’s 50th anniversary celebrations and took place in the new Centre of Excellence for French-language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education located at the campus entrance. The gathering marked the conclusion of a Toronto Francophonie Forum on the theme of bilingualism, held in the lecture theatre on the same day as part of the Francophonie Week. Approximately 200 people attended the two events.
This designation came into effect on March 1, bringing to fruition a project on which Glendon’s new Principal, Donald Ipperciel, and the Executive Director of Institutional Relations, Solange Belluz, have worked particularly hard. It establishes a “threshold” of French-language programs which cannot be eliminated and which, in actual fact, are expected to be further developed.
“This designation of Glendon enshrines half a century of history from the time of the founding of the French fact in Toronto,” stated the Principal before an audience of distinguished guests and some of the chief stakeholders, namely, Glendon students and faculty.
Asymmetrical Bilingualism
Principal Ipperciel pointed out that he has recently implemented a policy of “asymmetrical bilingualism” that gives priority to French on the Glendon campus. He also stressed that “Glendon is one of the largest Francophone employers in Toronto.”
At a time when the Franco-Ontarian community movement and political parties at Queen’s Park are discussing the creation of a full-scale Franco-Ontarian university (whose first phase should be located in Toronto), Glendon is reaffirming its wish “to meet the growing needs of Francophone students in Central and Southwestern Ontario, while continuing to extend the range of programs offered in French.”
Three Francophone institutions – the Université de Hearst, Collège La Cité and Collège Boréal – and two bilingual universities – Sudbury’s Laurentian University and the University of Ottawa – have official status as providers of French-language services. Glendon has now joined their ranks, becoming the sixth post-secondary institution to do so.
More than 2,700 Francophone and Francophile students are enrolled at Glendon. While most of the faculty and administrators are native French speakers, this is not yet the case for the majority of students. They must all, however, take at least two of their courses in French.
“This designation reflects York University’s on-going commitment to post-secondary French-language education,” acknowledged Madeleine Meilleur. “It enhances access to college- and university-level programs in French, and also represents a major lever for promoting the full development of the Francophone community. We are talking about a significant investment in the prosperity of the province as a whole.”
The Ideal
The Francophone Assembly of Ontario (AFO) applauded York University for obtaining this designation, which “provides a guarantee for the gains made by the Franco-Ontarian community,” said AFO President, Denis Vaillancourt.
“Nevertheless, the AFO has noted a large number of exceptions to this designation, and we are remaining vigilant in advocating the rights of the community, which has clearly come out in favour of the creation of a new French-language university.”
Vaillancourt reasserted that the ideal is still “governance by and for Francophones in the area of university-level education.”
By François Bergeron – Published in l’Express de Toronto – Week of March 29 – April 4, 2016
