Manitoba government gives nod to Mennonite university
Three institutions to form a federation
By Carol Thiessen • Special to ChristianWeek
WINNIPEG–Winnipeg’s Mennonite colleges took a giant step closer to joining forces recently when the provincial government publicly proclaimed its support for the venture.
Government representatives, including Premier Gary Filmon and education minister Linda McIntosh, signed a memorandum of understanding January 8, promising the Mennonite College Federation–comprising Canadian Mennonite Bible College (CMBC), Concord College and Menno Simons College--status of a free-standing, degree-granting university-level institution.
The government agreed to sell the former Manitoba School for the Deaf, located across from CMBC, to the federation to house the new institution after September 1, 1999. (Prior to that it will be used as headquarters for the Pan Am Games.) The government also promised an annual operating grant of $2.64 million for the first three years.
The federation of colleges would be the first of its kind for Mennonites in Canada.
