THUNDER BAY – The City of Thunder Bay is formally backing Lakehead University in its fight to be heard in decisions over the future of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.
Mayor Bill Mauro said at a Monday night city council meeting that he had spoken several times with Lakehead University President Moira McPherson, and was particularly concerned over suggestions that NOSM could potentially depart its campus on Lakehead grounds, or even abandon the Northwest entirely.
Council unanimously passed a resolution put forward by Mauro, endorsing an April 15 letter from McPherson expressing concerns to the province over plans to make NOSM an independent institution.
Council took the step without hearing from the medical school itself, the dean of which had contacted the mayor just prior to the meeting, Mauro said.
“We have not received confirmation from [the province] that a NOSM campus will continue to serve [Thunder Bay], or even be located in Northwestern Ontario,” McPherson wrote in her April 15 letter, which was addressed to Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano, and copied to premier Doug Ford, local MPPs, and other provincial ministers.
Mauro acknowledged there was no formal indication the school would leave the community, but called the lack of consultation with McPherson, who also serves as vice-chair of NOSM, unusual and highly troubling.
“I just want to underscore, at this point [we’re] not certain where this is going, why it has occurred, or why there’s been no consultation with the chairs and vice-chairs of NOSM,” he told councillors. “To be a bit blunt, it almost doesn’t pass what we would refer to as the smell test… The university is very concerned.”
Coun. Peng You asked whether Mauro had spoken with NOSM itself.
“What’s their stand?” he asked. “What’s the opinion from the medical school?”
Mauro reported receiving an email sent by NOSM Dean Dr. Sarita Verma minutes before the meeting began, after she learned council would be discussing the issue. He hadn’t yet had the chance to speak with her, he said.
Still, Mauro proposed pushing forward with the resolution, saying it was primarily focused on drawing attention to a lack of consultation and supporting Lakehead.
“There was essentially no consultation,” agreed Coun. Brian McKinnon, who sits on Lakehead's board of governors. “Both the chair and vice-chair of NOSM were unaware of this, which is unusual.”
The prospect of NOSM leaving the city would be devastating, he said.
“If the worst case scenario happens, it would be a very big blow, both to Lakehead University and to Thunder Bay,” he said.
The resolution sees the City outright oppose the proposed legislation to make NOSM an independent accredited university.
"It is our belief that the Government’s proposal is not in the best interests of our University, NOSM, Thunder Bay, or Northwestern Ontario," it reads. "The positive impact of the existing partnership on the development of health care service offered in Thunder Bay and surrounding communities in Northwestern Ontario is immeasurable."
The medical school, launched in 2005, has been affiliated with Lakehead and Laurentian University in Sudbury, with campuses in both cities.
Laurentian became the first public university in Canada to file for creditor protection after declaring insolvency earlier this year.
The university has since laid off more than 100 professors and closed dozens of programs, sparking protests.
McPherson’s letter expresses alarm that the provincial government allowed that situation to develop.
“We are concerned about the further erosion of our Northern Ontario post-secondary institutions, particularly in the wake of ongoing cuts to programs at Laurentian and the impact of COVID-19 on all universities and our local communities,” she wrote.
“At a time when there is so much at risk and universities continue to face uncertainty, we cannot fathom why a decision has been made to dismantle and destabilize these institutions even further.”
Tbnewswatch has reached out to NOSM for comment on this story.
Verma, who was appointed as NOSM's dean in 2019, previously declined comment over the situation, citing the ongoing legal proceedings involving Laurentian.
"In light of Laurentian University’s Companies’ Creditor Arrangement Act (CCAA) proceedings, we are not able to comment at this time,” she said last week in an online statement.
“We will continue to work with the Government of Ontario, rural, Indigenous and Francophone communities, learners, faculty and staff, and our institutional partners to remain an internationally renowned institution that prepares world-class health-care professionals to practise in Northern Ontario.”
