Collège des Grands-Lacs ( "

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...

College") was a

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the ...

College of Applied Arts and Technology in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. It was established in 1995 as Ontario's third college specifically serving the

Franco-Ontarian Franco-Ontarians (french: Franco-Ontariens or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2016, the Government of O ...

population, after

La Cité collégiale LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and

Collège Boréal Collège Boréal is a French-language College of Applied Arts and Technology serving Northern and Central Southwestern Ontario. Youngest of the 24 Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology, Collège Boréal has for the 12th time in 13 years ach ...

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

."New college goes hi-tech". ''

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'', August 28, 1995.

Launch and operations

It began as a "virtual college" which had no central campus, and instead offered instruction through student access centres in Toronto, Hamilton,

Penetanguishene Penetanguishene , sometimes shortened to Penetang, is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, this bilingual (French and English) community has a populat ...

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...

and Windsor. Instructors located in any of the access centres delivered course lectures to all five locations simultaneously through

videoconferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Encyc ...

technology, and students outside of those areas could also access the college's courses through partnerships with other educational institutions or through

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

. In 1999, a permanent campus was opened in Toronto, in the Stewart Building at 149

College Street College Street may refer to: *College Street (Kolkata) *College Street (Toronto) *College Street (Sydney) *College Street (York) *College Street, Dublin College Street () in Dublin follows the curve of Trinity College, Dublin, Trinity College. It ...

which had recently been vacated by the

Ontario College of Art and Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within d ...

. By this time the access centres in Welland and Windsor were considered full satellite campuses, although the ones in Hamilton and Penetanguishene were still classified as access centres. In 2000, the college was reported by the media as the subject of a

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investigation into a

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compen ...

allegation around misuse of government funds, which briefly caused the delay of a federal government announcement of new funding to all three of Ontario's francophone colleges. Within days, however, the RCMP confirmed that the college was not under investigation. Soon thereafter, the college began exploring a proposal to move its Welland campus to the then-proposed new Welland Civic Centre.

Shutdown

In 2001, the college's board of governors decided to close the college, due to declining enrolment. Some supporters of the college tried to obtain a court injunction against the shutdown, but were not successful. Second-year students were allowed to complete their programs with Collège des Grands-Lacs as it wound down, while first-year students were offered transfers to the equivalent programs at

. The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities begin negotiations with College Boréal to offer programs in Central and Southwestern Ontario. The college ceased operations in 2002. Its programs and services were taken over by Collège Boréal, although that college did not take over the Grands-Lacs campus on College Street: initially offering its classes at the Carlaw Avenue campus of Centennial College in Toronto, Boréal moved to its own new campus at

One Yonge Street One Yonge Street (also known as the Toronto Star Building) is a 25-storey office building that serves as the headquarters of Torstar and its flagship newspaper, the ''Toronto Star''. It is 100 metres tall and built in the International style. It ...

in 2012."College Boreal to spend $3.8 million on new Toronto campus"
''

Sudbury Star ''The Sudbury Star'' is a Canadian daily regional newspaper published in Sudbury, Ontario. It is owned by the media company, Postmedia. It is the largest daily paper in Northeastern Ontario by circulation. History The ''Sudbury Star'' began as ...

'', January 25, 2012. Some community members and the

Ontario Public Service Employees Union The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU; french: Syndicat des employés de la fonction publique de l'Ontario EFPOlink=no) is a trade union representing public sector employees in the province of Ontario, Canada. It claims a membership ...

continued to fight for the college to be reopened under the constitutional principle of respect for and protection of minority rights; the case, ''Gigliotti v Conseil d'administration du Collège des Grands Lacs'', was heard by the

Ontario Superior Court of Justice The Superior Court of Justice (French: ''Cour supérieure de justice'') is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations, and consists of over 300 federally appointed judges. ...

in 2005. The court dismissed the case, ruling that minority language rights had not been violated since Collège Boréal had stepped in to continue offering French-language college education programs in the regions formerly served by Grands-Lacs."Gigliotti v Conseil d’administration du Collège des Grands Lacs"

Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages of the Canadian government is responsible for achieving the objectives of, and promoting, Canada's Official Languages Act. Canada has two official languages: English and French. The 1988 Offi ...

, 2005. A 2012 report by the provincial Commissioner of French Language Services into French language education in Southwestern Ontario identified both the school's original "virtual college" model, which left it unable to truly build a profile as a French-language cultural institution or community hub in the cities it served, and the financial challenges resulting from its subsequent conversion to a more conventional campus-based model, as factors in the school's eventual failure."Investigation Report – The State of French-Language Postsecondary Education in Central-Southwestern Ontario: No access, no future"
Office of the French Language Services Commissioner, June 27, 2012. It also found that despite the technological innovation represented by the "virtual college" model, students still valued aspects of the educational experience that can only be provided by a physical campus, such as centralized student services and the ability to collaborate, interact and socialize with other fellow students.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grands-Lacs, College des Grands-Lacs Grands-Lacs Educational institutions established in 1995 Educational institutions disestablished in 2002 French-language universities and colleges in Ontario Colleges in Ontario 1995 establishments in Ontario 2002 disestablishments in Ontario