by Jennifer Marchant, Winnipeg
& Tom Mitchell, Brandon
|
“A final answer to the question – Why I.U.N.? The North will raise ‘hell’ if it is discontinued.” [1]
W. J. Waines
Beginning in 1971, Inter-Universities North (hereafter IUN), now subsumed under the aegis of University College of the North, emerged as a collaborative effort among the three Manitoba universities to deliver university credit and non-credit courses and programs to serve the people of northern Manitoba. [2] By 1978, the universities of Manitoba, Winnipeg and Brandon were delivering courses in 40 subjects, to 450 students living in 13 northern centres. [3] However, as part of a broad curtailment of government programs in 1978, the newly elected Progressive Conservative government of Sterling Lyon dramatically reduced funding for post-secondary education and the Universities Grants Commission (hereafter UGC) announced the end of funding for Inter-Universities North.
Northerners immediately reacted in disbelief and anger: IUN courses, one Northerner argued, met an “urgent academic and cultural need in the north,” and the end of IUN would only “increase the wall that seems to be dividing northern and southern Manitoba.” [4] Kay Campbell, a former northern regional director for the Manitoba Association of School Trustees, accused the UGC of making the north the “whipping boy” in its austerity program. The Commission’s decision was “grossly unfair.” “If they’d limited us to the three-per-cent increase they gave the three southern universities we could have made do. But they cut us out completely and made the north their whipping boy.” [5] In the midst of the crisis, the UGC asked veteran academic administrator W. J. Waines to prepare a report on IUN for the guidance of the Commission. The Waines Report that resulted secured the future of IUN and laid the foundation for the evolution of post-secondary education in northern Manitoba. [6]
William John Waines (1901–1991), the academic who led 1978 look into the operation of Inter-Universities North.
Source: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, Winnipeg Tribune fonds, MSS 24, personality files.
Prior to the inception of IUN in 1971, few opportunities existed for people living north of the 53rd parallel to take university credit courses. Administrative and delivery challenges, including the cost of running such courses, undermined the few initiatives taken by southern universities to respond to northern requests for courses. Northern initiatives were also undermined by the dramatic expansion of traditional university registration: growing demands for post-secondary education in southern Manitoba remained the principal concern of Manitoba’s publicly funded universities.
This changed in March 1970 when Lionel Orlikow, in his capacity of Human Development Assistant to the Planning and Priorities Committee of the new Schreyer government, submitted a series of Special Project proposals to the Committee. These were designed to reduce financial, geographic, motivational and academic barriers to post-secondary education in Manitoba. Orlikow’s Special Project for the North involved the creation of an educational extension unit for the North, initially termed the Tri-University Committee, with a field office in The Pas to deliver university courses offered by the southern universities. Courses were to be taken to “where the people are.” [7] Orlikow’s plan was amended in March 1971 when Dr. Lloyd Dulmage, President of Brandon University, proposed a merging of university efforts under one umbrella rather than a simple co-ordination of efforts through a liaison office in The Pas. IUN, defined by the University Grants Commission as “a joint endeavor of all three universities to provide a series of university credit courses at centres in Northern Manitoba,” was born. [8]
It was an immediate success. Newspaper reports shouted IUN’s positive reception by Northerners: “U Courses Draw Wide Interest in North-Areas,” “Manitoba’s Three Universities Offer Credit Courses to Northern Residents,” “Co-operative Program Almost Manitoba’s fourth University.” [9] By January 1974, fifteen university credit courses were being taught to 307 students in The Pas, Cranberry Portage, Lynn Lake, Snow Lake, Thompson, Gillam and Churchill. [10] In the 1975–1976 term, 27 courses were given in eleven communities and enrolment reached a record 450, up from 377 the previous year. “The demand is constantly growing,” Albert Pyke, Coordinator of IUN in The Pas, told the Winnipeg Free Press. “There is pressure for more and more credit courses….” Housewives, shift workers, police officers, teachers, businessmen and women filled IUN classrooms in the North. In Garden Hill, the most remote IUN teaching centre, Cree and Métis students were studying psychology. [11]
And IUN did expand to meet the demand for courses throughout the North. From 1971 to 1977, “under severe organizational and administrative difficulties”, IUN delivered 150 full course equivalents to 3,000 course registrants and gave Northerners the opportunity to work towards degrees in Arts, Science and Education. In a few short years, IUN became an organization regarded by Northerners “with very special favour and as an institution which belong[ed] to them and …[was] financed by them as taxpayers.” [12] But storm clouds loomed on the horizon.
On 11 October 1977, Manitobans went to the polls and elected a new provincial government headed by Progressive Conservative Sterling Lyon. Lyon had campaigned on the need for smaller government and a period of “acute protracted restraint” in public spending. In the spring of 1978, Lyon’s government introduced a series of reductions in government spending. [13] Grants to the Universities Grants Commission to fund the province’s universities plummeted; they had requested grant increases in the order of 15 percent, but had to settle for increases of three percent coupled with the suggestion that they hike tuition fees by 20%. And the axe fell on IUN: the Universities Grants Commission (UGC) announced that existing funding for IUN would end effective June 1978: a grant was provided by the Commission for the 1978–1979 fiscal year to allow for the orderly closing of IUN doors in the north. [14]
The UGC announcement was met with shock, disbelief, and anger, particularly in northern Manitoba. For Michael Blanar, Senior Officer of the tripartite northern program, the UGC announcement “came as a shock to all involved.” Blanar was “sad, especially because Inter-Universities North is the only avenue northern Manitobans have of pursuing credit courses in their own or neighboring communities.” [15] Don Jewison, President of the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association, expressed shock at the cancellation of the program; he thought the Commission was “picking on those who are most vulnerable … It’s pretty shocking. It shows a very centralist altitude.” [16]
In the north, Randy Rudd, Principal of Hapnot Collegiate, pointed out that the total cost of the program in 1977–1978 was $217,500: “Where else can you get education at that level for about $600 per pupil?” Neil Anderson, assistant superintendent of schools for Mystery Lake School Division in Thompson, underscored this point: the education dollars put into Inter-Universities North, he said, were well spent because there are no capital or maintenance costs involved: communities donated the facilities for IUN use. Carol Bowman, IUN Coordinator at Leaf Rapids, protested that the Grants Commission decision was “a hard blow and it’s causing a lot of resentment because it takes away the one chance a lot of people in this community have of getting university training.” [17]
Among northern Conservatives, the extent of Lyon’s austerity caused unease, but the death knell for IUN drew most of the attention. Thompson Conservative Rich Whidden pointed out that in “traditional Conservative circles the concern is mostly over the university program.” [18] Cecil Smith, the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Churchill, got on the phone to his provincial colleagues to report that he had received numerous calls from Northerners protesting the end of IUN. Smith’s exchanges with Northern Affairs Minister Ken MacMaster and other Manitoba cabinet ministers produced results; he was assured that the program would continue unchanged, and that details of new financial arrangements would be announced shortly. [19]
Smith’s disclosure broached an obvious question: Just how independent was the UGC’s decision-making process? It appeared that, under pressure from its grassroots, the provincial government was preparing to overrule the decision of the supposedly arm’s- length independent Commission. [20] In early April, the Winnipeg Free Press reported that the UGC planned to take $30,000 from its Emergency Fund to beef up the $90,000 already committed to ending the program in fiscal 1978–1979.21 In the legislature, Education Minister Keith Cosens announced that the UGC had decided to continue operating the program “on a limited basis.” [22]
The proposed UGC allocation amounted to less than half the $247,500 budget for the previous fiscal year, and would restore only a fraction of the program that had developed since 1971. Such half-measures—a concession to northern protest—would not satisfy the advocates of IUN. [23] A delegation representing municipal governments in Thompson, Flin Flon, The Pas, and ten other northern centres that had hosted IUN programs, headed south to lobby Education Minister Keith Cosens, UGC Chair Condo, and the presidents of the three Manitoba universities. [24] In Winnipeg, the northerners extracted a commitment from Education Minister Keith Cosens and Northern Affairs Minister Ken MacMaster that the program would continue: details to follow. Northern Manitobans were determined to gain full restoration of the Inter-Universities North program. [25] Early in the fall of 1978, a Co-ordinating Committee of thirty drawn from thirteen northern communities would be assembled to prepare a submission for the Committee of University Presidents and the UGC on the future of IUN. [26]
Facing austerity imposed by the Lyon government and growing protest in the North, on 21 September 1978, the UGC retained W. J. Waines to undertake a two-month commission of investigation of Inter-Universities North. [27] Waines was asked to report on the original mandate of IUN, its accomplishments, its needs both current and future, and its organizational structure, and he was also invited to offer “such proposals and recommendations on both programs and structure” as he deemed appropriate. [28] The report produced by Waines, which was born of the crisis of 1978, provided a road map for the restoration of funding to IUN, and the future course of development for post-secondary education in northern Manitoba.
Born in Moosomin, Saskatchewan, in 1901, Waines graduated from the University of Manitoba with a B.A. in 1924, and an M.A. in 1925. Following post-graduate work at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, he returned to the University of Manitoba in 1928 to teach in the Department of Political Economy. He became head of the Department, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science from 1947–1961, and Vice-President (Academic) of the University of Manitoba from 1961–1966. As a testament to his standing as an academic administrator, he was appointed Associate Director of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada in 1966. He served in this capacity until 1974. [29]
During the course of his career, Waines participated in numerous commissions, consultations, and public inquiries including the Rowell-Sirois Commission. He was a seasoned, pragmatic academic administrator, who viewed post-secondary education as a crucial ingredient of social and economic development. In his Presidential address before the Canadian Political Science Association in 1963, Waines observed that education opportunity was a determining factor in the political, cultural and economic life of the country. The provision of educational opportunities “should have top priority in a newly developing country.” [30] In 1970, he prepared a report for the AUCC on projected university enrolment, operating expenses, capital expenditures, support for research, and the capacity for rationalization of university activities in various jurisdictions across Canada for the AUCC. [31] In 1978, Waines had an enviable record as an institutional builder fully informed on the current state of post-secondary education in Canada. Could he provide the leadership required to address the crisis of post-secondary education in northern Manitoba?
The UGC assignment in 1978 was not the first time that Waines had considered the matter of post-secondary education in northern Manitoba. In the early 1960s, when the federal government closed a military installation in Churchill, the Churchill Post called for the creation of a Northern University at Fort Churchill as part of Canada’s Centennial program for 1967. Churchill, the Post argued, was strategically located for research into problems connected with life in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. A northern university could offer degree programs for northern students in the arts and sciences, and foster the establishment of vocational training and adult education programs for Northerners. An Arctic zoo with muskox, polar bear and Arctic fox could be a central feature of the new institution. [32]
But the idea got short shrift from provincial authorities. Asked for his opinion, Waines thought that a research organization of some kind might be established in Churchill, but no university. “You can only build a university on top of a school population,” he said. And it was the case that in 1964, outside Churchill and Thompson, only four students were attending high school north of The Pas. Waines thought the north required at least 4000 high school students before a university was a realistic possibility. Even then, Waines was not convinced that Churchill would be the right location. [33] Notwithstanding this cool reception in the south, the idea of a northern university would not go away. In the early 1970s, the provincial Liberals under the leadership of Izzy Asper made the establishment of a northern university a central plank in their policy for northern development. The creation of IUN gave the Schreyer government a riposte to counter opposition demands in the provincial legislature for the creation of a northern university. [34]
Under its Guidelines for the Seventies, the government of Edward Schreyer, elected in 1969, was committed to giving Manitobans a choice of staying in their home region, to promoting greater equality of the human condition, to maximizing the well-being of Manitobans, and to increasing local participation in decision-making. [35] In the north, this meant furnishing Northerners with the services and amenities available in the south. NDP advertisements during the 1977 provincial election highlighted new housing programs, health care services, municipal grants, better transportation and recreational facilities, tourist development, consumer co-operatives, and local consultation in policy formulation as accomplishments of the government in the North. When, in the fall of 1978, W. J. Waines flew north on his investigation of IUN, he encountered a North on the move, expectations were on the rise, and Northerners were alive to the needs of region. [36]
In 1973, the total population of the region was 79,700. Two-thirds of the population, or approximately 53,000, was composed of recent arrivals of Euro-Canadian descent. They were located in ten centres associated with mining, forestry, hydro construction and public administration. [37] The Aboriginal people in northern Manitoba numbered 26,360, located in 46 settlements. In a survey of the history of northern Manitoba, Gerald Friesen has observed that “the truth of the Northern Manitoba story has at least two faces, Aboriginal and European-Canadian.” [38] Waines’ terms of reference and his account of IUN fall within a European-Canadian narrative of northern development. He was an “external evaluator” of the existing IUN program and administrative structure. Both had emerged principally to address the post-secondary needs of the new North. A similar bifurcation seems to have afflicted the northern development policy orientation of the Schreyer government in the mid-1970s. [39]
There is no evidence that Waines spoke to Aboriginal leaders in the North. Nor does his report make specific references to the needs of the Aboriginal population of the region. [40] Still, he appears to have given Manitoba’s northern Aboriginal population some thought in the composition of his report. A copy of the “Report on the University of Canada North Conference,” held 11–19 November 1971, in Inuvik, NWT, is contained in his archival records dealing with the production of his IUN Report. [41] The conference report reflected the challenges inherent in the creation of a university program in the North acceptable to Aboriginal people. The subject of post-secondary educational opportunities for Aboriginal Manitobans was canvassed in Waines’ interview with Dean Dale Hayes of Brandon University concerning the role and effectiveness of the Brandon University Northern Teachers Education Program (BUNTEP) in northern post-secondary education. [42] In the early 1970s, the education of Aboriginal people in northern Manitoba was not entirely ignored by universities in the south. In large part, the story of university-level Aboriginal education in these years is a Brandon University story due to that institution’s generous admission requirements that permitted the launch of a number of innovative initiatives directed towards Manitobans of Aboriginal descent. [43]
The Northerners Waines encountered made it clear that they expected post-secondary education to be among the services and amenities available to them. They told Waines that the UGC elimination of IUN was an act of neglect by the Government. A spokesperson for the Thompson Library Board told Waines that it was “inconceivable to the Board that the impact of reduced university funding should be disproportionately borne by the North where alternatives are simply not available.” A resident of Gillam explained that the end of IUN meant that Northerners were “denied opportunities to develop our talents.…” In Lynn Lake, Waines was reminded that IUN was “the only method by which our citizens can upgrade themselves academically while continuing their employment.” [44]
In his report, Waines told the UGC that, like Manitobans in the south, Northerners expected access to universities to earn degrees, to engage in professional development, to fill leisure time, and to enjoy the satisfaction derived from learning. Moreover, “Northerners pay taxes—many of them substantial amounts—and claim they are discriminated against if they do not receive similar services to those available elsewhere in the province.” [45] It was clear, Waines observed, that for many Northerners, access to post-secondary education was a basic measure of the quality of life in the north. No small matter, the existence of IUN helped to keep people living and working in the north. Waines arrived at an obvious conclusion: Northerners deserved and were entitled to the same education and services as people in the south. [46]
Waines was impressed by the commitment to IUN as an organization. He discovered the roots of this loyalty in the effectiveness with which IUN had served the north. Until the cutbacks ordered by the government in 1978–1979, there was a constant increase in the number of courses offered and registrations at IUN. In 1975–1976, there were 620 people in 24.5 courses. At its highest registration point in 1976–1977, there were 644 people registered in 21.5 courses in eleven locations north of 53º. [47] The result: “IUN was well known and well respected by 1978 in the north and people were willing to fight to keep it running.”48 The upshot was clear: southern universities on their own had failed the north; IUN had been a dramatic success with the result that IUN had become “a symbol to Northerners of the willingness of the Manitoba Universities to repair what they regard as deliberate long time neglect of their educational and cultural needs and a belated symbol of recognition by the South of the rights of the North.” [49] He concluded his account of northern sentiment with the following blunt assessment: “Why I.U.N.?” Answer: “The North will raise ‘Hell’ if it is discontinued.” [50]
Waines also faced the delivery question squarely: “[Do] these services [need to] be provided in a co-operative fashion by way of an organization especially funded, like I.U.N. or can and will the universities, individually… provide a satisfactory level of services to the North[?]” His investigation led him to conclude that IUN was the only “rational way” to provide education to the northern communities. It was, he said, “probably the only effective way to serve the north at modest cost.” [51] He had the data to support his conclusion: “Over nine years (1970–71 to 1978–79), IUN has served a population of some 71,000 persons who are isolated from other sources of higher education by distance and high cost of transportation.” [52] In this time, IUN served at least 66 communities in the north with some 150 courses (FCE) for about 33,000 registrants. Between 1972 and 1978, the government grant to support IUN ranged from $91,000 to $247,000 per year, a total of $967,000. This was “a small fraction of the money spent by the government on universities over that period of time.” [53]
In March 1978, the UGC concluded that the province’s universities could “carry on giving the courses in the North on a voluntary and co-operative basis without the $250,000 superstructure.” [54] Would each southern university continue with courses in the north? “Past experience has taught Northerners that whether they can or not, the universities in Manitoba will not individually provide the educational services which they consider to be their right.” [55] Collaboration was required for one other reason: Northerners expected IUN to expand. Resources from each of the southern universities would have to be pooled to meet the needs of the north.
Waines’ findings may be summarized. Northerners deserved and were entitled to the same education and services as people in the south. [56] They expected to have access to university-level, post-secondary education and would “raise hell” if IUN were not restored fully. [57] During the few short years of its existence, IUN had earned the affection and respect of the Northerners it served by bringing university credit courses to the north economically and professionally. Experience had shown that, with a few modifications, the administrative structure evolved under IUN adapted well to the organization’s requirements and was cost effective. [58]
His findings led to several recommendations. First, he concluded that the IUN mandate was “unduly restrictive.” He proposed that it “be extended to include credit courses … from any faculty or school” approved by the faculty or school for the purpose of distance delivery. [59] Second, he recommended that “non-credit courses which are of appropriate caliber and content … be included as a noncredit university offering and should be planned in cooperation with Keewatin College.” [60]
Waines recommended that a study and identification of the needs of the people in northern Manitoba, both current and future, be undertaken as a foundation for future programming. [61] It was essential to “find out what people of the North need and want.” Here, consultation with Northerners was essential. He had been warned by Northerners: “Beware the South telling the North what it needs!” The UGC should be alert to Southern presumption. [62]
He emphasized that continuing financial support would be a necessity to ensure that long-range planning was effective. Manitoba’s universities had faculties and programs that would satisfy the educational needs of the north, but IUN required the financial resources to bring these programs to the north. [63] As was the case with southern universities, it was “imperative that sufficient finance be guaranteed for each year over a period of years.” This would allow potential students to plan their programs in advance of the delivery of the program. [64] In short, finances to provide for the continuation of long-range planning were essential; planning based on year-to-year and course-to-course had worked so far, but long-range plans would ensure the success and continuation of IUN for years to come. [65]
Almost exactly one year after the UGC had announced the end of IUN, W. J. Condo wrote to W. J. Waines on behalf of the Commission to thank Waines for the “very excellent and thoughtful report on Inter-Universities North.” Condo was glad to report that the Commission had “approved the report with some modifications.” The IUN Advisory Committee and the Committee of Presidents had fine-tuned some of Waines’ recommendations. However, on fundamentals, Waines’ findings and recommendations culminated in the restoration of the $250,000 grant to IUN and the decision by the Commission “to continue the IUN program.” [66]
Since IUN was established in 1971, it had been sustained by advocates of a progressive political agenda committed to the expansion of educational opportunities in northern Manitoba. A change in government in 1978 threatened to end IUN, but the organization’s death was forestalled by vigorous and unrelenting political pressure and protests from northern residents who refused to allow their only accessible link to secondary education to be taken away. To Northerners, IUN was a symbol of the efforts of Manitoba’s universities to make up for what was seen as a deliberate long-term disregard for the educational and cultural needs of the north. Northern protest underlined the political nature of educational initiatives. Though neither the UGC nor Waines received much credit from the press, the institutional response to northern protest, shaped by the UGC and the investigation of W. J. Waines, culminated in the restoration and strengthening of IUN and made it a permanent feature of education in northern Manitoba. [67] For his part, Waines identified the basic organizational principles required for future development of northern post-secondary education: these included continuing consultation with the Northerners, long-range planning, adequate financial commitments, and collaborative delivery of credit and non-credit programs in northern communities. From the period after the Waines Report (1978), until 1988, IUN entered into a period of experimentation and organizational growth based on the principles set out in the Waines Report. IUN remained open and functional through years of experimentation and consolidation before becoming Campus Manitoba in 1999. [68]
Inter-Universities North calendar, 1975-1976.
Source: S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University
The authors would like to thank Bruce McFarlane, Michael Blanar and Shirley Lyon for their recollections of the IUN crisis of 1978; the staff of Legislative Library, Chris Kotecki (Archives of Manitoba) and Brian Hubner (University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections) for assistance in tracking down a copy of Dr. Waines’ report.
1. See University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, Folder 1, W. J. Waines, Report To The Universities Grants Commission and the Committee of University Presidents on Inter-Universities North, December 1978, p. 3. (hereafter, Waines, Report to UGC)
2. On the development of IUN see Waines, Report To UGC, pp. 4-7. On the creation of University College of the North, see University College of the North: Recommendations and Action Plan: Report of the Consultation on Post-Secondary Education in Northern Manitoba, Winnipeg: Manitoba Advanced Education, 2003. Inter-Universities North is now titled Inter-Universities Services under University College of the North. See http://lynx.ucn.ca/IUS/
3. “University Grant Cut-Off Riles Northerners,” Winnipeg Free Press (hereafter, WFP), 20 March 1978, p. 2.
4. “Northerners Angered by Move to Cut $$ for U Credit Courses,” WFP, 16 March 1978, p. 17.
5. “University Grant Cut-Off Riles Northerners,” WFP, 20 March 1978, p. 2.
6. For the unpublished report, see University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, Folder 1, Waines, Report To UGC, December 1978.
7. Waines, Report To UGC, p. 4.
8. For an account of IUN’s origins, see Shirley Lyon, Native People and Brandon University: A Documentary Record of Academic Programs, Brandon University, 1987, 26-27. For the quote, see Waines, Report To UGC, p. 6.
9. “U Courses Draw Wide Interest in North-Areas,” WFP, 3 October 1972, p. 42; “Response Widespread to U Courses in North,” WFP, 23 February 1973, p. 21; “Expanded U Courses Offered at North Centres,” WFP, 18 June 1973, p. 50; “Survey Seeks Views on Evening Courses desired in North,” WFP, 28 November 1973, p. 76; “Manitoba’s Three Universities Offer Credit Courses to Northern Residents,” WFP, 7 September 1974, p. 23; “Co-operative Program Almost Manitoba’s Fourth University, WFP, 6 September 1975, p. 31.
10. “North Survey Indicates What U Courses Wanted,” WFP, 21 January 1974, p. 22.
11. “North University Credit Courses to Be Continued at Reduced Level,” WFP, 22 May 1976, p. 13.
12. Waines, Report To UGC, p. 10. For a detailed account of IUN enrolments see pp. 8-12.
13. “What the PCs Promised Us,” WFP, 12 October 1977, p. 17.
14. For the rationale developed for this decision by the Grants Commission, see University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, Folder 2, W. J. Condo to Dr. D. R. Campbell, Dr. H. E. Duckworth, and Dr. H. J. Perkins, 10 March 1978. For a press account see “1978-79 Grants Leave Universities in Shock,” WFP, 10 March 1978, p. 6.
15. “University Grant Cut-off Riles Northerners,” WFP, 20 March 1978, p. 2.
16. “1978-79 Grants Leave Universities in Shock,” WFP, 10 March 1978, p. 6.
17. “Northerners Angered By Move to Cut $$ for U credit Courses,” WFP, 16 March 1978, p. 17.
18. Alice Krueger, “On Alienating Northern Support,” WFP, 22 March 1978.
19. “U Credit Courses To Continue, Northern Manitoba Assured,” WFP, 23 March 1978.
20. “North U Courses To Go On,” WFP, 9 May 1978.
21. “$30,000 Pledged,” WFP, 4 April 1978, p. 2.
22. “North U Courses To Go On,” WFP, 9 May 1978, p. 61.
23. “Northerners Get University Pledge,” WFP, 27 April 1978.
24. “Budget Relief Sought,” WFP, 18 April 1978, p. 12. The delegation delivered a brief that had been composed to defend IUN. “Northern Manitoba’s Position on Inter-Universities North.” Submission by the Citizens of the North to the Hon. Keith Cosens, Minister of Education, 24 April 1978. We have not been able to locate a copy of this document.
25. “Full Grant Sought for U Program,” WFP, 19 October 1978, p. 5.
26. “North University Courses $$ Return Urged,” WFP (Country News edition), 19 October 1978. See Inter-Universities North: A Northern Perspective. Brief to the Universities Grants Commission, November 1978. We have not been able to locate a copy of this document.
27. As early as 12 December 1977, D. R. Campbell, President of the University of Manitoba, had written to W. J. Condo to convey a request from the Committee of Presidents that a review of IUN be undertaken. The suggestion had originated with Dr. Michael Blanar, former Senior University Officer for IUN. For his letter of appointment, see University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, folder 2, W. J. Condo to Dr. W. J. Waines, 21 September 1978.
28. “Terms of Reference,” Waines, Report To UGC, np.
29. W. J. Waines’ obituary, WFP, 23 April 1991, p. 22.
30. W. J. Waines, “The Role of Education in the Development of Underdeveloped Countries,” The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Nov. 1963), p. 339.
31. W. J. Waines, Federal Support of Universities and Colleges in Canada, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, 1970.
32. “Idea for a Northern University,” WFP, 13 February 1964, p. 27.
33. “Winnipeg Experts Reject Northern University Idea,” WFP, 5 November 1964, p. 52.
34. “Dawson Wants Northern University,” WFP, 7 May 1969, p. 36. For the provincial Liberals and the idea of a Northern University see “Women a Big Need in the North,” WFP, 10 February 1971, p. 35; “Dr. Blain Johnson Joins Liberals in Thompson, Manitoba,” WFP, 15 February 1971, p. 3; and, “Proposal for University in North Made by Member in Legislature,” WFP, 2 June 1971, p. 9.
35. Office of the Premier, Guidelines for the Seventies, Manitoba, 1973, pp. 57-58. For a general account of the Schreyer government’s accomplishments in the North see Nelson Wiseman, Social Democracy in Manitoba: A History of the CCF-NDP, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1983, pp. 144-145.
36. For Dr. Waines’ itinerary and interview schedule in the North, see University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, folder 2, “Itinerary Nov. 5-Nov 10,” and “Appointment Schedule for Dr. Waines.”
37. John Loxley, “The ‘Great Northern’ Plan,” Studies in Political Economy, No. 6, (Autumn 1981), p. 152.
38. Gerald Friesen, “Northern Manitoba 1870-1970 – An Historical Outline,” in Y. George Lithman and Georg Yrigve (eds.), People & Land in Northern Manitoba: 1990 Conference at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba, 1992, pp. 43-55.
39. For an insider’s account of the Schreyer government’s policy concerning Aboriginal communities in the North, see John Loxley, “The ‘Great Northern’ Plan,” Studies in Political Economy, No. 6 (Autumn 1981), pp. 151-182.
40. University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, folder 2, “Itinerary Nov. 5-Nov 10, “ and “Appointment Schedule for Dr. Waines.”
41. University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, Folder 2, Report on the University of Canada North Conference held November 19-11, 1971 in Inuvik, NWT.
42. University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, Folder 2, Interview Notes, “BUNTEP,” Dean Hayes.
43. On BUNTEP and related initiatives, see Shirley Lyon, Native People and Brandon University: A Documentary Record of Academic Programs, Brandon University, 1987.
44. Waines, Report To UGC, p. 1.
45. Ibid., p. 2.
46. Ibid., p. 2.
47. Ibid., p. 9.
48. Ibid., p. 8.
49. Ibid., p. 1.
50. Ibid., p. 3.
51. Waines, Report To UGC, p. 23.
52. Ibid., p. 23.
53. Ibid., p. 24.
54. University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, Folder 2, W. J. Condo, “Inter-Universities North,” Briefing Note for the Minister, 20 March 1978.
55. Waines, Report To UGC, pp. 2-3. For an account of IUN contemporary with, but at variance with, some of Waines’ conclusions regarding the effectiveness of consortia, see James W. Fox, “The Consortium in Higher Education: A Second Look,” The Journal of Educational Administration, Volume XVI, No. 2, October 1978, pp. 219-225.
56. Ibid., p. 2.
57. Ibid., p. 3.
58. Ibid., p. 23.
59. Ibid., p. 13.
60. Ibid., p. 13.
61. Ibid., p. 24.
62. Ibid., p. 22.
63. Ibid., p. 22.
64. Ibid., p. 14.
65. Ibid., p. 22.
66. University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, W. J. Waines Collection, MSS 114, Box 3, Folder 2, W. J. Condo to Dr. W. J. Waines, 6 March 1979 and R. A. Johnson, Secretary, Committee of Presidents to Dr. W. J. Condo, Chair, UGC, 2 March 1979. See “University Grants Higher Than Expected,” WFP, 3 February 1979.
67. For press reaction to the restoration of IUN’s budget see “University Grants Higher Than Expected,” WFP, 3 February 1979. 68. For reports on IUN subsequent to the Waines Report, see University Grants Commission. Discussion Paper on Inter-Universities North, Winnipeg, 1988; Michael Blanar, Inter-Universities Cooperation: A study - Phase I, Winnipeg, 1989; University College of the North: Recommendations and Action Plan: Report of the Consultation on Post-Secondary Education in Northern Manitoba, Winnipeg: Manitoba Advanced Education, 2003.
Page revised: 6 January 2017
