January 27, 2026

The Government of Manitoba has announced $16.8M in funding to support the creation of two new biological research facilities at the University of Manitoba. Biomanufacturing and vaccine development will take place at the PRAIRIE Biologics Accelerator at UManitoba’s Fort Garry campus, while the One Health Emerging Respiratory Disease Centre at UManitoba’s Bannatyne campus will support vaccine testing using technologies previously not available in the province. Both facilities will contribute to the PRAIRIE Hub on Pandemic Preparedness, a joint program between the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, UManitoba, and the University of Saskatchewan.

Institutions from Ontario to Newfoundland and Labrador closed or adjusted operations in response to a significant winter storm on Monday. Several of Ontario’s postsecondary institutions were closed for the day in response to the storm. The same was true in the Atlantic region, where most institutions closed for the day. Some, such as Holland College, St Francis Xavier University, and the University of Prince Edward Island, opened later in the day. In response to the high power demand in Newfoundland and Labrador, Memorial University encouraged members of the community to conserve power.

The British Columbia Assembly of First Nations (BCAFN) is calling on universities in British Columbia to prohibit OneBC demonstrations on their campuses. BCAFN stated that these demonstrations have happened at Thompson Rivers University, the University of British Columbia, the University of the Fraser Valley, and the University of Victoria. They explained that these demonstrations “undermine and diminish the impacts of residential schools and the lived experiences of First Nations in BC.” The organization is calling on all universities to ban these demonstrations to ensure that campuses remain safe for Indigenous students and to stand with residential school survivors.

Northern College has announced that it will receive $2M in funding from the Government of Ontario’s Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) to create a sports dome and clubhouse. The sports dome will contain soccer fields; courts for badminton, basketball, pickleball, tennis, and volleyball; and tracks for running and walking. The clubhouse will also contain a weight room and change rooms. “This $2 million investment will allow Northern College to open doors in developing new programs and opportunities to help meet the growing demands in the North,” explained Northern College President Mitch Dumas.

Institutions can thrive by involving alumni in activities across the campus and treating them as active stakeholders, writes Nicole Kempton (Imperial College London). Kempton writes that institutions can benefit from engaging alumni in a variety of different ways, including in teaching, research, innovation, and workforce alignment. The author notes that alumni support for students can start a “virtuous cycle” where students are more likely to give back and stay engaged when they graduate. Additionally, she explains how personalisation creates more pathways for alumni to participate. “The question is whether institutions are ready to elevate alumni from supporters to partners in shaping the future of higher education,” concludes Kempton.

CBC reports that some Nova Scotian universities are at risk of losing funding if they continue to be unable to meet NS’s campus residence targets. The Government of Nova Scotia’s two-year funding agreement included a clause requiring universities to fill on-campus housing to at least 95% to avoid funding holdbacks. Representatives from Acadia University, Mount Saint Vincent University, and Université Sainte-Anne shared how factors like changing international enrolment and the goal of accommodating student needs and emergencies have affected their residence management.

At Carleton University, members of CUPE 4600—representing teaching and research assistants and contract instructors at the university—rallied to demand “AI guardrails.” The union is calling for the institution to implement protections around AI job replacement and hiring or evaluation decisions, as well as protections against being forced to use AI or have their work fed into AI for training. The move comes in response to Carleton’s draft AI Framework, which the union said ignores several ethical problems associated with the tools. The union plans to deliver an open letter with collected signatures to Carleton’s Board of Governors at the end of the month.

Lethbridge Polytechnic has renewed its lease with the Government of Alberta for the 395-acre Lethbridge Polytechnic Research Farm. The 20-year lease will allow researchers to continue work at the facility, which includes the polytechnic’s Centre for Applied Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Leth Polytech VP Academic and Research Kenny Corscadden thanked the government for agreeing to the lease, explaining that the institution continues to see growth in the demand for agricultural research. The lease also allows for the construction of the upcoming Cor Van Raay Link multi-use pathway linking Lethbridge and Coaldale.

The Saint Mary’s University Faculty Union is reportedly seeking a strike mandate from its members in a vote that will be held later this week. The union, which represents around 300 full-time faculty and librarians, has been in negotiations with the university and has a conciliation session scheduled for early February. If the conciliation fails, the union says that it would be in a potential strike position. “A strike mandate vote does not mean we will be going on strike, but we are getting ready in case they leave us no choice,” stated the union in a message to students. The Chronicle Herald reports that the news is part of a broader picture of labour action and negotiations at universities across the province.

Nokia and Hypertec have partnered to deploy the Nibi supercomputing cluster at the University of Waterloo. This new infrastructure will be integrated into the Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Network (SHARCNET), which provides computational power for research to postsecondary faculty, students, postdocs, and research fellows. “The Nibi supercomputer significantly expands Waterloo’s capacity to support advanced computational research,” said UWaterloo VP, Research Charmaine Dean. “By working with Nokia and Hypertec, we gain access to world-class AI and high-performance computing infrastructure that combines scalable system design with high-performance Ethernet networking, advancing the next generation of Canadian research and reinforcing Waterloo’s long-standing leadership in computation.”