THUNDER BAY – The federal and provincial governments are committing a combined $9.5 million to help Lakehead University take a deeper plunge into research.
Lakehead announced it would build the Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering and Sciences on Thursday, a renovation to the former Ministry of Natural Resources building. It will house its 11 research chairs, an entrepreneurship centre and laboratories.
Although university president Brian Stevenson would not say how much construction on the building will cost when it’s completed by April of 2019, he committed $9 million to add to the $8 million from the federal government and $1.5 million from the province.
Stevenson pointed out the school’s research budget has grown from $8 million in 2000 to over $20 million today, which has won it accolades from Info Source and Maclean’s magazine as a high-quality research institution.
“We were running out of space and I think we needed to develop more space in a new building and this project came forth,” he said.
“This is going to help us expand and develop and try to go to the next level of research.”
Amanda Diochon is the director of Lakehead’s Water Resource Science Program. Her program was designed to appeal to Indigenous women across the region and she can see it growing far beyond its current five-person capacity.
“We see lots of Aboriginal women coming through the doors and they want to be nurses they want to be nutritionists and social workers and go back to their communities but there are so many water issues in Northern Ontario and specifically in Aboriginal communities,” Diochon said.
“So why aren’t women choosing water science as a career?”
Representatives of senior levels of government presented their funding commitment for the building as elements of broader economic strategies.
Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu said the federal government plans to take advantage of low interest rates to inject the economy through improving infrastructure where it sees strategic opportunities for growth.
"We have an infrastructure deficit in Thunder Bay. We're definitely trying to look and target our investments to areas that really need that boost, that need that support, that haven't seen those kinds of investments in a long time," Hajdu said.
"I'm very proud to be the cabinet minister representing Northern Ontario and advocating for our region but also highlighting what great potential we have as a region."
Hajdu's provincial counterpart Michael Gravelle reiterated the voice of the extractive industry at last week's Mining Innovation Summit in Sudbury as he praised research and innovation. He particularly related those investments to the economic potential private industry could have in capitalizing on the results of that research.
"There's no question research and development and innovation will be where the future lies. That will also be about commercializing technologies," Gravelle said.
"It's part of the future, not just in the mining sector but all across the economic sectors that feed the north's economy."
