November 11, 2026

This week, institutions across Canada are marking Remembrance Day by lowering their flags and hosting special ceremonies. Centennial College, Humber Polytechnic and the University of Guelph-Humber, Memorial University, and Thompson Rivers University held ceremonies and services to remember those who served. Institutions such as Lethbridge Polytechnic notified their community that their flags would be at half-mast, while the University of Alberta raised the official Poppy Flag of the Royal Canadian Legion on campus. The University of Saskatchewan shared the story of the recently restored painted ribbons in the corridors of the College Building, which feature the names of all members of the university community who enlisted in World War I.

The Université du Québec network has submitted its business case for the creation of an undergraduate medical doctoral program—called MD-UQ—to the Government of Québec. The business case offers a comprehensive proposal for a program that would have cohorts of 200 students distributed across the province, beginning in 2031. The program will focus specifically on family medicine and encourage new family doctors to establish themselves permanently in the communities that need them. The program will focus on three targets: 75% of admitted students will come from underserved communities, 75% of graduates will pursue a residency in family medicine with the rest going into related specialties, and 75% of trained doctors will practise in underserved urban areas and regions.

Several Canadian postsecondary institutions hosted special events and shared information to raise awareness about National Indigenous Veterans Day. Brock University, First Nations University, and Northern Lights College hosted special events such as a beading activity, a ceremony to honour veterans, and a documentary screening. New Brunswick Community College’s library shared informational resources such as videos, eBooks, and stories about Indigenous Veterans and the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada’s military history. Students at the University of Regina helped to bring the Saskatchewan Indigenous Veterans Monument and related historic information online through a site called Living Honour.

Red Deer Polytechnic recently received a $1M combined contribution from the Government of Alberta and Volleyball Alberta to create a beach volleyball facility. The 16-court outdoor beach volleyball training and tournament facility will be used to host Volleyball Alberta beach tournaments, support training and development camps, and offer high-performance athlete training. “This project is about more than courts in the sand; it’s about creating opportunities for people to connect through sport,” said Volleyball Alberta CEO Diane Clarke. “The new facility will serve athletes, coaches, referees, volunteers, families, and community members while supporting recreation, development, and competition at every level of the game.”

In a recent article in Nature, Jenna Ahart explores government-supported initiatives from around the world that are focused on changing PhD programs. Ahart highlights a shift toward PhD programming that connects students and candidates with industry, such as Australia’s National Industry PhD Programme, China’s “practical PhDs,” and the Industry-Integrated PhD program in the United States. In Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development spokesperson Hans Parmer commented that these initiatives and programs reflect “the growing recognition that knowledge is a key driver of economic competitiveness and innovation.” The European Commission also asserted that these programs improve employability for PhDs, given that only a small fraction of PhD graduates can be employed in academic positions in universities.

Québec’s public procurement authority—the Autorité des marches publics—has ordered McGill University to terminate a contract with former supplier AlumaSafway Inc. The order comes after the supplier was prohibited from receiving public contracts earlier this year. While McGill disabled the supplier’s account from its systems, it failed to terminate an existing contract with the supplier and contravened its obligations to the provincial government’s electronic tender system. AMP ordered McGill to terminate the remaining contract no later than December 31, 2026 and to amend its description of the contract in the public tender system within 15 days. It also recommended that McGill establish effective measures to ensure its compliance with public procurement obligations and provide training for contract management staff.

The University of British Columbia’s Old Fire Hall, one of the oldest surviving buildings on the university’s Vancouver campus, was moved to its permanent home earlier this week. The building was built in 1926 as the campus fire hall and repurposed in 1982 for the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory. This year, the building was raised onto a flatbed truck and moved 1.5 km across campus to the university’s upcoming Lower Mall Precinct graduate student residence complex. Upon completion of the complex, the Old Fire Hall will serve as a gathering place for the community.

The University of New Brunswick has launched COREHub, a collective of four engineering research groups that will solve industry challenges with applied research. Altogether, the collective will bring together about 10 faculty members, 30 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and 12 research staff. “What makes COREHub unique is its ability to support research beyond the limits of a traditional laboratory,” said UNB Faculty of Engineering Dean Dr Josh Leon. “The facility provides the space, equipment, and flexibility needed to advance technologies from concept to application, creating new opportunities for collaboration between researchers, students, and industry.”

The Institut national de la recherche scientifique has announced that it is bringing its Apprentis program to an end after more than 20 years. The summer program, which was offered through a partnership with Musée de la santé Armand-Frappier, brought high school students into the lab, where they would take part in scientific research alongside INRS student mentors. The purpose of the program was to introduce students to a variety of research fields and expertise and discover new options for the future. INRS stated that it will be engaged in other initiatives in the future to encourage youth to pursue science.

The University of Northern British Columbia has received part of Prince George’s postsecondary history through a donation from the local chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women. The donation to the Northern BC Archives and Special Collections at UNBC includes scrapbook albums, oral history recordings, and photographs spanning over 60 years of the local chapter’s history. “This archival material will support [a] myriad [of] future research objectives, including, but not limited to, the history of women’s clubs in northern BC, the history of regional social priorities and concerns, and the history of women’s organized advocacy efforts,” explained UNBC Head of Archives & Special Collections Erica Hernandez-Read.