October 7, 2025

The University of Victoria will be adding 510 new beds on its campus, thanks to a $121M investment from the Government of British Columbia. The $178M project includes plans for a 17-storey high-rise tower with 90 four-bedroom units for upper-year undergraduate students, a seven-storey mid-rise wing with studio units for graduate students, and amenities such as shared spaces and secure athletic storage for equipment. The building will meet LEED Gold certification. “The addition of dedicated graduate and upper-level undergraduate housing on campus will be highly impactful for our students, many of whom currently live quite far from UVic and miss out on a lot of the student experience,” said UVic Graduate Student Society Chair Rosemary Webb.

York University has received a $6M gift from The Hennick Family Foundation and has renamed its joint JD/MBA Program the Hennick JD/MBA Program in recognition of the donation. This gift will be used to elevate the program with scholarships, expanded programming, career mentorship, and further connections with the alumni network. “Building on current strengths, the Hennick JD/MBA program will provide students with the knowledge and perspective needed to lead in law, business, and society,” said YorkU Osgoode Hall Law School Dean Trevor Farrow.

Mount Royal University has celebrated the grand opening of the Springbank Aviation Campus. This campus’s learning spaces include virtual reality, crosswind, and general purpose simulators; classrooms; hangars; and a paint room. With this new campus, MRU will be able to double its pilot training intake in 2026, helping to meet the demand for aviation workers. “It provides our students with a learning environment that matches their ambition and positions Mount Royal to meet the growing demand for skilled pilots across Canada,” said MRU President Tim Rahilly. The facility was supported by $7.1M from the Government of Alberta, $3M from Prairies Economic Development Canada, and $1.5M from philanthropist Ken Lett.

A group of current and former Toronto Metropolitan University law students have reportedly launched a $10M lawsuit against the institution and the TMU Lincoln Alexander School of Law. The Globe and Mail reports that this group of 10 students were among the signatories of a letter in 2023 that called on the TMU law school to drop its neutral position and show public support for Palestinians. TMU issued a response to the petition in which it stated that it “unequivocally condemn[ed] the sentiments of Antisemitism and intolerance expressed in this message.” According to Toronto Today, the lawsuit describes this as a false accusation of antisemitism and intolerance and is claiming “discrimination, defamation, and a breach of contract.”

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Applied Genomics Centre has received a $1M investment from Genome British Columbia (Genome BC). This funding will support agriculture sector research benefitting more than 60 partners. In recognition of the investment, the university has also renamed the centre: the Applied Genomics Centre supported by Genome BC. “This additional support allows us to work with more industry partners, ensuring they get access to genomics to improve their products and processes through innovation,” said KPU AGC Director Dr Paul Adams.

Ontario’s Auditor General has released a report on the Skills Development Fund Training Stream that found that, since the first round of funding in 2021, the funds have been distributed through a selection process that was not fair, transparent, or accountable. The audit found that more than half of the applications approved for funding were rated “medium” or lower against the slated program objectives and other program criteria, while 670 applications that ranked “high” were not selected for funding. The ON Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development has agreed with all recommendations made by the auditor general in the report.

Yellowquill University College has received more than $600K from the Government of Manitoba to support specialized training for Child and Family Services (CFS) staff. The funds will be used to support the First Nations Child and Family Services Worker Diploma Program, which provides Indigenous-led training to case managers within Indigenous CFS agencies. “This training will help case managers gain the formal certification and specialized knowledge needed to support children and families, strengthening the foundation of Indigenous-led child welfare on the path to Nations reassuming jurisdiction over child and family services,” said MB Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine.

Fanshawe College has announced that its Fall convocation, originally scheduled for November, will be postponed until June due to the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) support staff strike. OPSEU Local 109 President Adam Rayfield said that the decision shows the importance of support staff. “Convocation events are mammoth planning undertakings, and it is indeed support staff that carries the majority of that work,” he said. About 650 support staff from Fanshawe are affected by the strike.

Quebec Superior Court Judge Patrick Ferland has denied McGill University’s request for an interlocutory injunction that would prevent noise and obstruction of McGill’s buildings and prevent intimidation, harassment, or threatening of students and staff, reports CBC. In his decision, Ferland said that there is “no evidence that the injunction McGill seeks would do anything to alleviate the current deleterious atmosphere or prevent derogatory acts from taking place in the future” and expressed concern about the impact on liberty. According to CTV News, several McGill labour unions and student groups opposed the injunction, raising concerns about the effects it would have on freedom of speech on campus.

Bargaining continues between the Alberta Union of Public Employees and several AB institutions. At Bow Valley College, AUPE Local 071 Chapter 011 and the employer have settled all remaining non-monetary items, but no agreement has yet been reached on wages. Representatives for AUPE at Northwestern Polytechnic Grande Prairie met with the institution for a first round of meetings. Six articles have been agreed upon with the employer, with discussions on the grievance procedure and union recognition articles to take place at the next meeting. At the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, AUPE representatives pushed for greater raises, but AUPE said that differences remain between the employer offer and the union’s demands.