Eastern Ontario colleges and universities announce return dates for in-person learning
As Ontario announces the loosening of restrictions, colleges and universities across the region are confirming when students will be able to return to in-person learning.
The University of Ottawa will be the first in the national capital region to welcome all students back, with a return date set for Jan. 31. The resumption of in-class activities at Carleton University is set for Feb. 7. Queen's University in Kingston will be waiting until Feb. 28 before full in-person academics resumes.
For Algonquin College students in Ottawa, Pembroke, and Perth, the plan isn't as clear. Keltie Jones, Dean of Algonquin College's Pembroke campus, says there is a plan to examine a return to class following Algonquin's winter break at the end of February.
"We will be looking at what some of those options will be for bringing some of those more theory-based courses back to campus after our winter break," Jones tells CTV New Ottawa.
Algonquin College's Pembroke campus is unique in the fact that roughly two thirds of the college's 900 student population are still attending in-person classes in some capacity, according to Jones. That's due to the specifically hands on programs offered in the valley, such as carpentry and arborculture.
But Samuel Beehler, a student enrolled in the Outdoor Adventure Naturalists program, says he has only attended virtual classes since returning this semester.
"We're doing wilderness first aid at the moment," explains Beehler. "And that's something that you're typically in-person for and working with dummies so that you can get a feel for how the human body works. And you can't do that virtually."
Without a date locked in for Algonquin College, Beehler is hoping that at least some of his time at college will be spend in a classroom.
"I hope we're able to get to a full classroom - not even without restrictions - just at least in the classroom rather than in your home in front of a computer screen."
"I think the most important thing is that we maintain our flexibility, we maintain our adaptability," says Jones about the plan to bring students back to campus. "And we keep the safety and learning conditions for our learners in mind for everything that we do."
Originally from Ottawa, Beehler lives in the student housing accommodations a few hundred metres from the school. He only stopped by Thursday to pick up a book for class.
"This is my time in college and I can guarantee you I'm not coming back here and the fact that I'm robbed of the college experience of being in there, it's upsetting."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.