Brantford's downtown is boarded up, but Laurier's satellite campus may help revitalize it. Image via flickr user betsyweber

Landmarks evolve under pressure. The rock formations that dominate the Canadian Shield shape the features of countless communities in northwestern Ontario. The city of Thunder Bay looks across Lake Superior to the profile of The Sleeping Giant, a series of steep cliffs and mesas that form the profile of man stretched out on his back.

In recent years, Thunder Bay’s Lakehead University has roused its environmental conscience. The school retrofitted its heating system, spearheaded an e-waste recycling program, and built bicycle sheds to promote greener transportation alternatives.

But sustainability goes beyond environmental issues – it’s about creating a resilient community that can weather a multitude of changes.

With this in mind, Lakehead plans to build a LEED Platinum-certified satellite campus in an entirely different part of the province: the City of Orillia.

The shape of the town will be indelibly altered. Other small cities across the country are looking for strategies to cope with alarming shifts in local economies. As these transformations occur, towns are teaming up with postsecondary institutions to spur change.

Mounting tensions

Orillia, “The Sunshine City,” located in south-central Ontario’s Simcoe County, is an hour and a half drive from Toronto. Closer to the Manitoba border than to the provincial capital, Thunder Bay differs significantly in terms of distance, geography, and economic foundation.

So why did Lakehead decide to build a new campus in Orillia?

Both communities face stresses that have been building for years and are shared by countless cities across the country. Between 2001 and 2006, Ontario’s population grew 6.6 per cent. But Thunder Bay's population grew a mere 0.1 per cent, and Orillia’s by 3.9 per cent.

These changes are shaping the postsecondary prospects for Ontario students.

“In southern Ontario, there’s a significant portion of the population – we estimate about 58,000 students – who in the next ten years will be trying to find places in university,” says Kim Fedderson, Dean of the Lakehead Orillia campus. “By opening the campus up in Orillia, we’re providing [university] spaces in the Greater Toronto Area and also building up Lakehead University proper. By doing this, we’re sustaining the university itself.”

Satellite campuses in small towns are cast as beneficial to both city and school: a university will attract a new batch of applicants, and the town will avoid brain drain.