Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface
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| Type | Private public-interest corporation |
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| Established | 1818 |
| Affiliation | University of Manitoba |
| Chairman | Antoine Hacault (since 2015) |
| President | Gabor Csepregi (since 2014) |
| Location |
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 49°53′19″N 97°07′11″W / 49.888631°N 97.119725°WCoordinates: 49°53′19″N 97°07′11″W / 49.888631°N 97.119725°W |
| Campus | Francophone neighbourhood of St. Boniface |
| Website | http://ustboniface.ca/ |
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The Université de Saint-Boniface (USB) is a French language post-secondary institution located in the Saint Boniface neighbourhood of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. An affiliated institution of the University of Manitoba, USB offers general and specialized university degree programs as well as technical and professional training. Current enrollment is 1,250 regular students and more than 5,000 enrolments in its Continuing Education Division, which includes a language school.
With its origins dating back to 1818 and established by Father Norbert Provencher (1787–1853), Université de Saint-Boniface is Western Canada’s oldest post-secondary educational institution. It had its humble beginnings as a small school where Latin was taught to the boys of the French-speaking Red River Colony.
The school continued to grow, and in 1855, Msgr. Alexandre-Antonin Taché (1823–1894) oversaw the construction of Collège de Saint-Boniface, a two-story building on the corner of Taché Avenue and Masson Street.
From 1866 to 1870, under the guidance of Bishop George Dugas, Collège reorganized its programs to consolidate the instruction of Latin, Greek and philosophy into a classical curriculum.
Incorporated in 1871, Collège was one of the first official institutions of the new province of Manitoba, which had joined Canadian Confederation the year before. In 1877, together with the Anglican St. John’s College and the Presbyterian Manitoba College, it helped establish the University of Manitoba. Collège served both francophone and anglophone Catholic students. Around the same time, Manitoba saw a major influx of French-speaking newcomers from Quebec as well as France, Switzerland and Belgium. In 1880, increased enrolment led to the construction of a larger building on the site of what is now Provencher Park. Annual enrolment at that time was around 300 students.
In 1890, French lost its official language status in Manitoba, and in 1916, the Thornton Act strictly prohibited French-language instruction in the province’s public schools. As a private institution, Collège remained in operation and even encouraged public schools to defy the government ban. French-language teaching continued clandestinely.
On November 25, 1922, a major fire started in a music room in the basement and the blaze completely destroyed the building, including all of its records and the 40,000-volume library; it also claimed ten victims. In response to this tragedy, Msgr. Arthur Béliveau, Archbishop of St. Boniface, donated the seminary (Le Petit Séminaire) on Avenue de la Cathédrale, the present location of USB. The English-speaking Jesuits founded their own college (St. Paul’s College) in 1925, and USB became a francophone institution, although it offered business courses in English until 1941.
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