REGINA – A Regina-based university is scrambling to head off a budget shortfall after a federal government department said it would no longer be renting space at the school.
Aboriginal Affairs said in a letter last week to the First Nations University of Canada that it would no longer be leasing nearly 3,200 square metres of space at the schools’ main campus.
The university says the decision means a five-per-cent drop in revenue, or more than $1 million a year.
FNUC has an annual budget of $20 million.
“I think a lot of it was probably miscommunication,” said FNUniv. acting president Juliano Tupone.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a crushing blow. It’s certainly a risk.”
David Sharpe, FNUC’s governor, says they suspected Aboriginal Affairs would not be renewing its lease, which expires at the end of next April.
Tupone is confident a new tenant will be found by March 2014.
“We’ve been working with potential tenants over the last little while to try and identify someone to take over that space.”
With files from Global Regina’s Mike McKinnon
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