Education

North Island College is cutting teaching and administrative positions, affecting approximately 10 full-time equivalent jobs, due to an $8.4 million decline in international revenue by 2027 caused by federal immigration policy changes. The college is also suspending 15 programs and reviewing offerings with lower enrolment to address significant financial challenges.

Camosun College announced workforce adjustments due to a $7.2-9 million budget cut caused by a 60% drop in international student enrollment. The college has issued Section 54 notices to its three unions and is exploring alternatives to layoffs including early retirements, voluntary severance, and reduced term contracts, though exact numbers of affected employees have not been disclosed.

Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia laid off 31 unionized and non-unionized staff members in administrative and service roles due to financial pressures including enrolment shifts, funding constraints, and rising operating costs. The layoffs affected positions including Wong International Centre staff, health promotions staff, and student counsellors, but did not impact academic and teaching positions.

Nova Scotia Community College announced a $9.4 million cut to its operating grant that will result in approximately 230 job losses over the next four years, equivalent to eliminating one large campus. The cuts are expected to reduce staffing by three percent annually, with union representatives warning of significant impacts on student programs and the provincial economy.

Peel District School Board issued layoff notices affecting 331 permanent teachers (159 secondary and 172 elementary) effective August 31, 2026, citing declining enrollment and budget constraints. The layoffs were announced after the Ontario government took over the board's operations in January 2026 and rejected the board's request to use $1-2 million from its $130 million reserves to prevent the job cuts.

Thompson Rivers University has shed more than 10% of its workforce in the last 15 months due to a 26% drop in international enrolment caused by federal immigration policy changes. The university expects to slash an additional $25 million from next year's budget, with ongoing layoffs and potential elimination of five academic student services due to unfilled retirements and sabbaticals.

College of New Caledonia is permanently closing its Fort St. James campus on March 31, 2026, due to an $8 million revenue shortfall caused by caps on international student visas. The closure follows previous staff layoffs and relocations at the campus, which previously served approximately 200 students in programs like culinary arts and trades.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University is laying off unionized staff and cutting costs due to a sharp drop in international student enrolment, aiming to save $5 million—about 40–45 full-time positions—through staff reductions, frozen overtime, and unfilled vacancies.

Meanwhile, at Vancouver Community College, the administration says that 70 regular faculty member will be losing their jobs.

Trinity Western University is laying off approximately 75 staff members due to federal restrictions on international student study permits, which have reduced enrolment and created financial pressures. The cuts are part of cost-saving measures implemented across the Canadian post-secondary landscape following a 7% reduction in maximum international student permits for 2026.

Saskatchewan Polytechnic says a perpetual threat of layoffs and program cuts is starting to wear down faculty. The school recently eliminated 23 full-time and part-time jobs and is suspending its health information management program for the 2026–27 school year. According to Sask. Polytechnic, the moves are the result of "a financial shortfall resulting from federal immigration policy changes" and are needed "to support long-term program sustainability."

Ontario's education minister placed the Peel District School Board under provincial supervision to prevent 60 teacher layoffs that would have affected approximately 1,400 students mid-year. The board has run a deficit for five consecutive years and faces concerns about financial mismanagement.

Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario is experiencing a faculty strike after failed negotiations over a new collective agreement. The strike follows the university's bankruptcy-driven restructuring four years ago, which resulted in the elimination of 110 teaching positions and significant cuts to salaries, pensions, and benefits for faculty, librarians, and counsellors.

Ontario's public college sector has shed over 8,000 jobs and axed more than 600 programs over the past year, with Conestoga College issuing approximately 400 layoff notices to faculty and support staff. The sector faces a projected structural deficit of up to $1.5 billion by 2027-28 due to international student revenue losses and underfunding.

Memorial University announced a restructuring effective March 1, 2026, reducing the number of vice-president positions from seven to three, resulting in one employee being laid off. The position of vice president, external relations and advancement, held by Lisa Browne, was eliminated as part of the university's response to a $24-25 million deficit caused by declining enrollment and rising costs.

Conestoga College laid off 181 full-time faculty positions effective March 16, 2026, with the majority of cuts (143 employees) occurring at the Kitchener Doon campus. The layoffs are attributed to financial troubles resulting from a significant drop in international student enrollment, following a 20,000 student decline after federal international student caps were implemented.

Mohawk College is offering voluntary buyout packages to full-time administrative, faculty, and support staff, with applications open until the end of January. This follows massive layoffs of 255 full-time jobs (20% of workforce) that occurred between December 2024 and February 2025, which were driven by a projected $50 million deficit and reduced international student enrollment.

Red River College Polytechnic is laying off 44 staff members at its Centre for Newcomer Integration in spring 2026, consisting of 13 permanent positions and 31 term positions expiring March 31, due to federal funding cuts to language training programs. The layoffs will reduce the centre's annual capacity from 6,700 seats to 1,360 and eliminate stage two language training, affecting approximately 1,400 newcomers.

Concordia University announced it will not renew limited-term contracts for 63 full-time faculty members as of June 2026 due to a 23% drop in international student enrollment and significant budget shortfalls. The cost-cutting measures also include deferring sabbaticals and offering voluntary retirement packages to full-time faculty, driven by federal and provincial immigration policy restrictions that have reduced the university's revenue projections by approximately $84 million.

Mohawk College laid off at least 380 employees and suspended more than a dozen programs in late 2024 and early 2025 to address an expected $50-million deficit caused by federal caps on international student permits. The college's cuts are part of a broader crisis affecting Ontario colleges, which have collectively cut $1.8 billion, suspended over 600 programs, and eliminated more than 8,000 positions due to reduced international student enrollment.