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HOLLAND
COLLEGE • October 20, 2001
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COLLEGE
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Kirsten Ferguson Surveyor Staff Holland College's plans to move the Justice Institute of Canada from Slemon Park to Summerside Centre by next September have been delayed after the provincial government rejected the college's application for a land transfer. Stories about the proposed $10-million move made the front page of both the Guardian and the Journal-Pioneer just one week before the land transfer grant was rejected. The college needed the grant to build residences on the Summerside Centre campus for Justice Institute students. "They talked to us originally about the possibility (the Justice Institute) would move in January 2001," said Slemon Park Corporation president Ken DesRoches. Holland College president Alex MacAulay said, "We required, really, extended facilities." Few renovations have been made to the Justice Institute building at Slemon Park since it was originally built in the 1940s. "They're no longer adequate," MacAulay said about the Slemon Park building facilities. "We would have to renovate it." DesRoches said it would be cheaper for the college to move the Justice Institute to Summerside Centre, which the college owns outright, than to upgrade the existing Justice Institute building, which the college leases from the Slemon Park Corporation. He also said the Summerside Centre building has been underused. MacAulay said, "What Holland College requires is state-of-the-art facilities, and as cheap as possible to the college." Not only do the facilities need upgrading, enrollment is expected to increase because the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have increased demand for security and police officers. "The reason (why the government refused the college's land transfer application) appears to be they don't want any more hotel/motel facilities in Summerside," MacAulay said. "I haven't checked with the students regarding how they think," MacAulay said. "However, we have consulted very closely with the professional staff at the Justice Institute and the police community." The Justice Institute will stay in Slemon Park next year, but its future remains unknown. MacAulay said he hasn't ruled out the option of moving the facility away from Summerside. "It's certainly possible," he said. |
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