Our college system in Ontario is in great danger. Like many colleges across the province, Loyalist announced the indefinite suspension of over 24 programs earlier this year, including its one-year Culinary Skills Certificate and the two-year Culinary Management Diploma.

St. Lawrence College in Kingston has also suspended their culinary programs indefinitely. 

The renovations to our culinary facility at Loyalist over the last 5 years have been significant. Learning of the program suspension after this massive investment was nothing short of horrifying. Returning this fall to teach out the program to the last cohort is heartbreaking. 

And I am deeply concerned about the impact this decision will have on our local hospitality industry.

I have been teaching in the culinary programs at Loyalist for 15 years and coordinator for 10. Loyalist’s culinary programs have evolved over time, and enrolment is robust. The majority of our faculty and technician team have now been laid off. The program once employed 12 people in a combination of full and part time positions.

Our connection to local industry is strong, and our industry partners support our programs in many ways. They join us at our “Art of Flavour” dinner series as guest chefs and beverage producers; they share their perspectives and experience as speakers and mentors, they serve on our Program Advisory Committee (PAC), and they join us at our annual culinary job fair to hire our students.

They have expressed deep concern about our program being suspended and the negative impact it will have on their access to trained staff.

Many of our students come to us through dual credit culinary classes offered to local high schools, where they can earn a college credit concurrently with a high school credit and experience what culinary, and college, has to offer. Their passion is inspiring, as is knowing there’s a career path that can keep them in the community.

Our alumni can be found working in countless local establishments, many making their way into management positions; some eventually open their own businesses. Other grads often go on to work in long term care facilities, where there is a high demand for cooks to support our aging population.

We are a training delivery agent for the Canadian Armed Forces, who urgently need cooks, and we retrain veterans after they retire from service. 

I moved to the County from Toronto in 2003. With my former partner, Michael Potter, I took over the Milford Bistro in 2004, opened Harvest on Bridge Street in Picton a couple of years later, and then Pinch Gourmet Shop on Elizabeth Street in 2007. We moved into the Edward Building on Main Street the year it was built.

Our decision to invest here was based on the rich agricultural heritage and blossoming culinary scene that grew alongside the wineries, breweries, and distilleries over the last 25 years, making us an international culinary destination.

A skilled labour pool is critical to all of this growth.

Access to public post-secondary education is a vital component of rural economic development. The impact of these cuts on our community will be devastating. Aspiring culinary students will now have to relocate to Toronto or Ottawa for formal culinary education. For many families that is simply not possible. 

It is my sincere hope that our provincial government will work with the colleges collaboratively to solve the funding challenges we are currently facing, and that Loyalist College finds a way to restore culinary and so many other critical programs.

Karin Desveaux is a professor in Loyalist College’s Culinary Program.