As far as I know, neither CREN  nor EARN has plans to terminate within 10
months. This is  a purely canadian problems, and from  what little I have
been able  to understand  of the  reasoning, it  sounds like  a political
rather than technical one.
 
Unless there is some fine print in  the CA*NET contracts, I see no reason
why canadian universities  which do not want to  lose BITNET connectivity
could not get  together and form some non-profit  association which could
then   request   CREN   associate   network   status.   It   would   seem
counter-productive for CREN  to refuse such an offer and  force nodes off
the network. All that is needed, it seems (again based on my very limited
knowledge  of the  situation), is  someone to  actually come  forward and
start the ball rolling before it is too late.
 
  Eric