Hearst, Ontario

bulk of the industrial base in the region. “Lecours and RYAM Forestry are softwood and Columbia is plywood,” Morrissette specifies. “The Lecours, I believe, are one of Hearst’s founding families. They’ve been a family-established business since the 1940s and are likely one of the last family- owned softwood mills in Canada.” Another larger employer for the area is Villeneuve Construction, a civil construction company that’s been around since the 1970s. “They’re now also established in Cochrane and Wawa, Ontario, so they’ve grown quite a bit since then,” Morrissette says. “In peak season they retain over 250 employees and have contracts all over Northern Ontario. As I mentioned, our town has the local labor and expertise to be self- sustaining, and Villeneuve Construction is one of the key pieces to that. Most of our infrastructure here was built by them, so we’re lucky to have them around.” Morrissette goes on to explain that their part institution began offering university courses in 1959, became secular in 1971 (under the new name of Collège de Hearst), and was affiliated with the University of Sudbury in 1957 followed by Laurentian University in 1963. With the province moving to pass new legislation in April of this year, the Université de Hearst obtained independent accreditation and became Ontario’s second standalone French language university, joining the Université de l’Ontario français in Toronto. “It means a lot for Northern Ontario to be able to offer courses tailored to the needs of the regional labor market,” Morrissette shares. “We hope to be benefiting from that investment in education in the future.” Employment in Hearst is still heavily generated by sawmills, as was the case over a century ago. There are three local mills in the town and vicinity: Lecours Lumber, RYAM Forestry, and Columbia Forest Products, which make up the