Report finds Algonquin College cuts will impact city’s employment pool

Of the 30 programs suspended by Ottawa’s largest college, nine are found to potentially impact the city’s ability to recruit talent.

A report from staff shows that the City of Ottawa has “benefited geographically” from Algonquin College, and the loss of some programs “may cause competition” between municipalities for the same talent.

Some of the jobs the city employs from the cut programs are nursery operators and workers, software developers, museum collectors, law clerks, paralegals, graphic designers and communications officers.

The college’s top brass said the cuts were necessary because of how the landscape for schools has “shifted significantly” and that several programs were operating with deficits. The lower international student enrollment was cited as a main concern for the school.

One of the programs axed is the horticultural industries program, one of very few in the country and the only in eastern Ontario. The pipeline for these graduates, Avery Clark, a current student enrolled told CityNews, is the opportunity to work for the city in the forestry department.

Staff found that the city has benefited from Algonquin College’s horticulture graduates.

A concern raised by the report is the cutting of the applied museum studies program, which is the only undergraduate-level course in Ontario that cities across the province hire from.

“Without graduates from the (applied museum studies) program, the pool of qualified candidates local to Ottawa diminishes significantly, especially for part-time collections work,” it notes.

The city “frequently hires” from the program, and the students who work as interns also assist employees with backlogged items.

Staff also raised concerns about the ending of Algonquin’s journalism program. Although both Carleton and UOttawa offer journalism courses, the report notes that the axing of the college’s program could further impact the number of reporters in the nation’s capital.

“While this is not a city service, it could potentially harm the amount of coverage the city obtains for its services,” it reads.

Other programs, like computer programming and pathways to Indigenous empowerment, won’t hit Ottawa as hard because of other schools in the area offering similar studies.

Local industry pushing back

The memo was accompanied by several letters from industry experts and business leaders who opposed the cutting of the programs. They raised concerns about how this could cause a ripple effect across the economy in the city and how finding employees will become a problem.

The Ottawa Music Industry Coalition conducted a study in response to the cuts, detailing the impacts the decision will have on the arts community.

“Ottawa must work harder to retain skilled early-career talent,” the letter reads. “Without strong, local training pathways, workers are more likely to leave the region.”

According to the data shared from the school to the organization, 92.3 per cent of Algonquin College graduates are employed in the field. They are involved in events, festivals, touring and broadcasting.

Major film production companies in the city — like IATSE, Encore and Lycea Productions — “rely heavily” on graduates from the programs at the college.

The Ottawa Film Office echoed these sentiments, regarding its “serious concern” to axe the media and film foundations program.

It notes that in the past several years, the nation’s capital has been a prime shooting location for movies, shows and projects, injecting tens of millions of dollars into the local economy.

“Yet the industry faces significant workforce challenges,” it notes.

The graduates are often finding other opportunities in larger cities, and without a pipeline from school to work in Ottawa, the office worries talent will dry up.

Michelle Groulx, Chief Advocate of the Ottawa Coalition of Business Improvement Areas, said in her letter that “students contribute immediately to our economy as employees in restaurants, cafés, retail shops, festivals, and events. These are sectors that form the backbone of our main streets and commercial districts.”