CBU is everyone’s business on the island
University occupies a leading and prominent place in Cape Breton economy
Destination Cape Breton CEO Mary Tulle made an observant remark at a recent meeting hosted by Cape Breton University (CBU) President David Dingwall when she said “tourism is everybody’s business on the island.”
Very much so!
Because tourism has such a powerful presence in our economy everything we do in business, entertainment and municipal servicing either enhances our tourist industry or works against it. The vibrancy of tourism lifts all boats in the rest of the economy. So it is everybody’s business.
It didn’t take much of a stretch to apply the same thought to CBU. The university occupies a leading and prominent place in our economy. Without it, the economy would be seriously weakened.
Notwithstanding the controversy that ensued around the administrative decision to actually consider naming the University College of Cape Breton “Breton University”, it took a groundswell of some 3,000 concerned Cape Bretoners --on and off the island --to change that wrong-headed thinking.
The fact that the name “Breton” was even considered reflected poor judgement about the identity and attachment of the university to Cape Breton Island. The same groundswell of support will be needed as the university faces upcoming challenges to sustain itself in a highly competitive provincial environment and a transforming provincial economy.
Our university’s name takes its identity from the island in its fullest sense ¬- its history, cultures, economy and people. The university embraces everything we are as an island from an academic and intellectual perspective.
It is the only local organization qualified with the resources necessary to conduct impartial and credible research attached to the fate of Cape Breton. It is also the repository of the historical documents that frame the narrative of Cape Breton.
When the University College of Cape Breton finally adopted its current and rightful name, not many people noticed that CBU is the only university in Nova Scotia named after a major and separate geographical area of the province.
In contrast to CBU there is no University of Nova Scotia, although it may one day come to pass. But all other universities take their names after saints or some local distinctive character, not specifically attached to a geographical identity.
Some might say that Acadia is geographically consigned. But Acadia was a colony of New France in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces and modern-day Maine to the Kenebec River. Cape Breton Island is a well-defined and recognizable geographic entity.
Just as tourism carries an enormous local impact on the island’s economy, the university has grown to play a dominant role in it as well. Over 1,100 local jobs flow directly just from the presence of CBU. These jobs infuse some $85 million in household income and return nearly $12 million to government revenues. From this perspective, the institution more than pays for itself as a contribution to the provincial economy and a major player in the local economy.
CBU successfully recruits over 1,400 international students who contribute over $50 million annually to the local economy. Many businesses benefit from the mere presence of all of these students spending money locally every day. That’s why the university is everybody’s business.
CBU President Dingwall has activated a strategic planning process reaching out to all corners of the island. The strategic plan is a long overdue and much-needed reconnect with the various communities throughout Cape Breton, especially indigenous communities.
Currently, eight per cent of CBU’s student population is indigenous. Recruitment will grow those numbers and also establish CBU as a desirable post-secondary institution for indigenous students throughout Canada. But work needs to be done to make that happen. A lot depends on how local communities provide their resources to assist the university.
But ultimately the goal of developing a strategic plan is to reinforce the idea among all of us that CBU belongs to the island and that everyone is entitled to benefit from its services and should support it.
Over 1,100 local jobs flow directly just from the presence of CBU. These jobs infuse some $85 million in household income and return nearly $12 million to government revenues.