(File photo/northeastNOW)

By Cam Lee

Suncrest College is born

Year in review 2023: Cumberland and Parkland Colleges merge

Dec 24, 2023 | 5:00 PM

As 2023 draws to a close, northeastNOW is taking a look back on the most important and impactful stories of the year, as selected by our reporters and editorial staff.

Two of the province’s regional colleges merged to become one in 2023.

In January, the provincial government approved the merger of Cumberland College and Parkland College, eventually forming Suncrest College on July 1.

Cumberland College covered the northeast, including the communities of Melfort and Nipawin. Parkland College served Yorkton, Esterhazy, Melville, and other areas of southeast Saskatchewan.

The two colleges had been operating as a coalition since 2019, with a shared CEO and a shared board of governors.

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A news release after the new name was announced stated that ‘Suncrest’ is the combination of two words that hold significant meaning to each college.

The sun is meant to represent new growth and beginning and symbolizes the commencement of the merged college. It also represents Saskatchewan, one of the sunniest provinces in Canada. Meanwhile, a crest signifies the top or the peak, representing the colleges’ shared vision of hoping to exceed the needs of their learners, partners, and communities.

Suncrest CEO Alison Dubreuil, who was also the interim CEO of Cumberland and Parkland colleges before the merger, said merging would mean more shared resources, better partnership opportunities, and new programming.

“We believe the merger will better position our colleges to serve our learners and our communities,” said Dubreuil.

After the merger, Dubreuil said enrollment in the new institution increased.

“We have seen some enrollment increase for sure, some of that being attributed to having had new programs that were announced last year,” said Dubreuil. She added enrollment has also been able to increase because the College brings something different to the table and can help the other side in areas of need.

“The whole point of our merger was to ensure that we could attract and retain students. That requires us to work together and share our resources, ensuring that we’re nimble and that we have programs that are available for our students.”

Corinna Stevenson (Melfort), Ray Sass (Yorkton), Lori Kidney (Tisdale), Brian Hicke, (Melville) and Wendy Becenko (Kamsack) remained on the Board of Directors of the newly-merged college, while Dr. Adeyemi Laosebikan (Melfort) and Shaun Patenaude (Yorkton) joined July 1.

However, at least one organization expressed concerns with the merger before it became a reality.

In 2022, the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union (SGEU) had asked the two colleges to pause the merger until they could respond to concerns from the public and stakeholders.

The SGEU said a potential merger was not mentioned during the coalition process, nor did it appear in the strategic plans or annual reports of the two colleges.

SGEU represented almost 200 employees at the previous Parkland and Cumberland Colleges.

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cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com