La Cité Collégiale opens new campus in Hawkesbury

In what is being called one of the most unique and forward-thinking partnerships in Ontario, the Hawkesbury campus of La Cité Collégiale officially opened its doors to students and the public on Thursday, January 14.
Students, members of the local community and media crowded into the new campus, which is located at L'école secondaire catholique régionale de Hawkesbury, to celebrate what many of those in attendance called an important milestone event.
According to Andrée Lortie, president of the French-language college, the opening is the result of an "amazing" partnership between the Conseil des écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario (CEPEO) and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l'Est ontarien (CSDCEO) and the college.
"La Cité Collégiale will now be able to increase its number of programs in the trades and apprenticeship sectors," she commented. "We will be able to better meet the needs of our students and employers in eastern Ontario."
The college is the largest French-language college of applied arts and technology in Ontario. Since opening its doors in 1990, the college has welcomed more than 135,000 students and offered a variety of programming that continues to meet the needs of the labour market.
As of 2010-2011, over 90 programs will be offered at La Cité Collégiale, and the college will be the sole French-language provider for 58 of them.
Lortie noted the provincial government invested approximately $1.2 million in the new campus, which included the building a new machine shop at the high school. Programs offered at the Hawkesbury campus will include millwright; machinist; welding; welding and fitting and machine shop programs, with the addition of roofing; heating, refrigeration and air-conditioning technician; construction carpentry techniques; mechanical technician - tool and die and mechanical engineering programs.
"This is a tremendous growth opportunity for the community," Lortie said.
Lortie called the partnership a "model for all of Ontario" and noted the campus will help prepare students locally for future employment. She said the hope is that students will want to stay in their home communities to work and live.
"We are working together to accomplish something great here," she remarked. "We are preparing our students for the future. This will help move regional economic development forward and help Hawkesbury get out of these difficult times. This truly is a wonderful day."
Céline Cadieux, director of education and secretary at the CSDCEO, noted the college and its partners have been working for "a very long time" to make this project a reality.
"The CSDCEO is very proud of this partnership," she stated. "This will allow of students to develop the necessary skills to get meaningful employment in the future."
François Benoit, director of education with the CEPEO, said his school board is also proud to partner in this endeavour.
"This project will allow a wider range of courses to be offered, affording the students registered in a High Skills major at the École secondaire publique Le Sommet the opportunity to double up their credits while staying in the area," he commented.
He encouraged students to "take full advantage" of the college and the programs it offers.
"You are the reason we are doing this," he told students. "(Those of us in education) have only one reason for doing the things we do and that is the students. You are the most important beneficiaries of this partnership."
Mayor Jeanne Charlebois said the opening of the campus is a coup for Hawkesbury, which is "the industrial hub of Prescott-Russell.
"This is the best gift that could have been given to us," she said. "Our goal is to maintain what we have here and build upon what we want to have. I am so proud to have the college here in Hawkesbury. The whole community will benefit from this."
Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Pierre Lemieux noted that more than 700 students from the Prescott-Russell area attend the college every year. He said students would have access to the best classroom environment and equipment in order to further their education.
Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MPP Jean-Marc Lalonde noted that since Hawkesbury has lost so many jobs in recent months, it is important to give students the tools they need to succeed.
"If we train our students at home, hopefully, we can keep them at home," he remarked.
Lalonde also announced that a further $160,000 was being invested into the campus so it can offer a pre-apprenticeship program in welding.
"Colleges bid on these programs and we were fortunate enough to have been chosen to offer it," Lortie explained. "This investment allows us to focus on programming, instead of building infrastructure."