<strong>Report of Quebec student unrest dismissed by Liberal government</strong>
The Liberal government of Quebec called a 2012 report on student unrest in the province a political move by the Parti Quebecois government.
This report centred on the province’s “Maple Spring,” when students took to the streets for several months to protest proposed tuition hikes by the government of Quebec. Premier Philippe Couillard said Thursday that his government will always have misgivings about the report.
“I would have liked [it] to be a little bit more balanced in terms of what responsibilities were on all sides,” Couillard noted. More than three-quarters of its 28 recommendations deal with police tactics and riot tactics.
For instance, the report suggests limited use of police equipment like batons, pepper spray, and stun grenades when dealing with protests.
The report was received favourably by two major student unions representing junior college and university students from Quebec.
<strong>University of Calgary receives $100 million donation</strong>
The University of Calgary has received one of the largest donations ever to a school in Alberta.
Calgary businessman Geoff Cumming is donating $100 million to the university’s faculty of medicine. After his large donation, this faculty will be named after him.
UC president Elizabeth Cannon says the funding will allow the university to conduct the best cutting edge research in medicine. The funding is going to be targeted on brain and mental health studies research, such as looking into infections, inflammations, and chronic diseases.
The Alberta government is matching the donation over the next 10 years.
<strong>University of Ottawa men’s hockey team suspended for 2014–2015 season</strong>
The University of Ottawa has suspended the men’s hockey team and relieved its head coach after an internal investigation found allegations of misconduct by some of the team’s players during a trip to Thunder Bay in February.
The team is suspended for the 2014–2015 season. University officials have stated that the coach was not involved in the misconduct, but he should have notified the authorities about the sexual assault allegation against the two players.
The two players were accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a Thunder Bay hotel room during a trip to Thunder Bay. The two men were charged with sexual assault last August. The Ottawa men’s team was in Thunder Bay to play against Lakehead University.
The university will continue to co-operate with authorities, and the program remains under suspension for the fall and winter season, a university spokeswoman said.
<strong>Government of Canada will provide $40 million for new scholarship program</strong>
A new scholarship program will provide $40 million in scholarships in its first five years for students in Canada and throughout the Commonwealth.
The program will award 1,500 scholarships over five years to Canadian grads and undergrads for internships or course work for anywhere from four months to one year in another Commonwealth country. The scholarship will also be available to students from Commonwealth countries to attend a Canadian university for up to two years for an M.A. or PhD.
The program was a collaboration between the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), Community Foundations of Canada (CFC), and the Rideau Hall Foundation.
