FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEOttawa, ON – Union leaders, faculty, students, and allied organizations are sounding the alarm on Francophone futures put in peril by program cuts at Collège La Cité. Advocates say that college management has made unilateral decisions that are out of step with community and industry needs and will carry generational consequences for Franco-Ontarians.Program suspensions at Collège La Cité, first announced in April 2025, were revealed this week to be
permanent closures eliminating 18 faculty positions. Targets of these cuts at the flagship institution for the Franco-Ontarian community include 9-1-1 and emergency service dispatch training; university pathway, special education, disability support, and occupational and physiotherapist assistant programs; and the sole French-delivered television production program in the province. Parallels can be drawn to
programs targeted in the most recent round of cuts at Algonquin College.“It is not hard to see how the downstream effects of these cuts will be felt in our communities and the vital services delivered by workers trained in these programs,” said OPSEU/SEFPO President JP Hornick. “Make no mistake – cuts like these are a direct attack on some of our most vulnerable community members and the cultural programs that build community at a time when solidarity is so desperately needed to combat hate.”“These are short-sighted and dangerous choices, but ultimately the blame lands squarely at the feet of Doug Ford who is hell bent on manufacturing a crisis in our college system,” added Hornick.The cuts raise fears that existing problems around Francophone representation, both in labour markets and spaces of cultural production, will only be exacerbated.“Imagine, as a primarily Francophone Canadian, that you call 9-1-1 or require specialized support in the classroom, and you can’t articulate the help you need because service can only be provided by a unilingual English speaker,” said David Lacaille, a practicing paramedic also teaching at Collège La Cité and President of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 470 representing faculty at the college. “These scenarios are already the reality on the ground.”On Thursday, a crowd gathered at the headquarters of the CBC/Radio Canada – a major recruiter from one of the targeted programs – for a press conference addressing the cuts at La Cité, featuring speakers from the Association pour l’intégration sociale d’Ottawa Association pour l’intégration sociale d’Ottawa (AISO), Fédération De La Jeunesse Franco-Ontarienne (FESFO), Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC), and TVC22.“The college says their decision is ‘final,’ but a mistake can always be corrected,” said Lacaille. “In 1997, it was ‘too late’ to stop the closure of Montfort Hospital, the only hospital in Ottawa operating in French. It’s still standing today because the Francophone community came together to protect what’s ours, knowing that it’s harder to reverse course once those resources are gone.”“The Francophone community isn’t an afterthought, it’s a Charter-protected ground – and we will not let our futures be sidelined without a fight.”
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Media contact:
Vic Wojciechowska, OPSEU/SEFPO Communications, (437) 518-3459
[email protected] QUOTES:“Collège La Cité is an important post-secondary institution that offers a wide variety of programs to Francophone youth, who will ultimately bear the brunt of these announced cuts. Many Francophone youth in Ontario do not have local access to French language programs in their desired field and have to re-locate for that education. We can’t afford these cuts – what we need is investment in Francophone post-secondary education.”
- Marie-Claude Bisson, Vice-president, La Fédération De La Jeunesse Franco-Ontarienne (FESFO)
“Cutting these programs is not a neutral act or an appropriate cost saving measure. It deepens existing inequities in education in our communities…Denying Francophone students the right to learn in French is an equity failure, as is denying adults – especially those with developmental disabilities, or those seeking second chances through academic upgrading – the right to learn.”
- Tracy Henderson, President, OPSEU/SEFPO Local 415 representing faculty at Algonquin College
“It’s hard to understand how the college could choose to cut programs that are meant to support our most vulnerable… Most parents of children and adults with developmental disabilities will tell you that they lay awake at night worrying about who will take care of their kids when they are gone. Services and properly trained professionals were already scarce – even more distressing is how difficult it already was to find French speaking programming and professionals to work with Francophone or newly immigrated French-speaking families.”
- Kate Dudley-Logue, Vice-president — Community Outreach, Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC)
“Franco-Ontarians have a long history of resilience and organizing, especially in Ottawa. Cuts like the ones at Collège La Cité will have long-term impacts on the community. French colleges and universities in Ontario are important institutions training future workers, allowing them to stay close to home while they study and learn how to provide essential services in French.”
- Ruth Lau MacDonald, Regional Executive Vice President, National Capital Region, PSAC
