“It feels like the rug has been pulled out from under you,” Prof. Verrelli said. “It’s not easy to get tenure, and when you do it’s such a relief. But today shows it doesn’t mean anything. They can just cut you, cut the program.”

The many programs on the chopping block are ones that “serviced the community in a meaningful way,” she said. “These cuts disproportionately affected and hurt the francophone community, the Indigenous community and marginalized groups. We lost a part of Sudbury’s unique soul on April 12.”

Political science professor Nadia Verrelli was let go on April 12 along with about 100 of her colleagues at the university over a 10-minute Zoom meeting, she said. She said at least 800 students were directly affected by the cuts at Laurentian. Verrelli also said the faculty and staff that have been let go are not being given a severance, and that confusion around access to their pensions is putting those affected in a financial bind.

Laurentian political science professor Nadia Verrelli — fired in a group Zoom call last week — said it is “disappointing that no level of government has stepped up. It’s troubling that they allowed this to go through the CCAA process … restructuring an institution in the private sphere is different than one in the public sphere that has a public mandate.”

NDP press conference with leader Jagmeet Singh

“First of all, I’d like to thank the Senate for denouncing the admin’s action last Monday, and for acknowledging the hurt and humiliation we felt on April 12,” she said. “There was no respect, no dignity in the way we were fired. Respect and dignity that we earned, respect and dignity that we deserved.”

Volunteer week (April 18-24) will soon be upon us, offering an opportunity to thank those who give freely of themselves to make our communities better by way of a familiar ingredient – effort.  That is what allows so many of our non-profit organizations to carry on year after year, and what fuels smaller and less formal ventures too.  The projects, whether big or small, transform cities, towns, regions, and neighbourhoods and sometimes even the individuals who are engaging as...

Whether it's the high cost of hydro or inaccessible health care, many northern Ontarians are voicing frustration over what they consider to be a power imbalance between the province's north and south. The Agenda welcomes a panel of experts to identify the boundaries of this cultural divide, the sources of frustration, and how the next Ontario government could work to mend these wounds.