Labour and education in the news

Below are recent news stories on labour and education related issues. Click the headline to be taken to the article. Some may require a subscription. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for article text.

January 19, 2026

Manitoba Government Hosts AI Summit to Foster Innovation in Education
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government hosted the province’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education Summit, bringing together kindergarten to Grade 12 and post‑secondary leaders, educators and industry partners to explore how AI can be used productively and responsibly in classrooms, Premier Wab Kinew and Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt announced today.

Future students will be wired differently, thanks to AI
Winnipeg Free Press
Teachers were urged to stop asking children what they want to be when they grow up and focus on building creative, self-directed and critical thinkers at Manitoba’s AI in Education Summit.

Quebec civility rules won’t be adopted in Manitoba schools
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba teachers are embracing the freedom to be called whatever they’d like at work while their colleagues elsewhere in Canada adjust to new civility rules.

Faculty on strike at Laurentian University, classes temporarily cancelled
CBC
Faculty, academic librarians and counsellors represented by the Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) in Sudbury, Ont. are on strike.

Majority of Yukon University workers vote in favour of strike mandate
CBC
Yukon University staff voted in favour of a strike mandate earlier this month after the two parties failed to reach an agreement at the bargaining table.

University calls in alumni and artificial intelligence to help sift through overwhelming number of qualified candidates
CTV News
A university in Waterloo, Ont. is getting help from some of its alumni and artificial intelligence to review applications for some of its most competitive programs.

MUNSU Questions Funding After Surprise Tuition Freeze
VOCM
A freeze in tuition is something which students at Memorial University have been lobbying for for some time, but they have more questions than answers after an announcement by the minister of education out of the blue.

University of Minnesota to offer virtual learning options as feds continue immigration enforcement
MPR News
The University of Minnesota, which starts its spring 2026 semester on Tuesday, says it will offer virtual learning options for some students. 

Girls are banned from Afghan schools. Secret networks are teaching them anyway
CBC Radio
Mohaddesa Hassani was writing her tenth grade exams in Kabul a few years ago, when a teacher suddenly burst into the exam hall.

Swan Valley hospital ER struggling to fill nursing shifts after agency changes: union
CBC
The union that represents Manitoba nurses says the emergency department at the hospital in Swan River is running with half the nurses required, with some shifts having no nurses at all.

NAV CANADA bargaining: Headed to strike vote as conciliation falls short
PSAC
PSAC members working at NAV CANADA will be going to strike votes because members across the country deserve better. Your PSAC-UCTE bargaining team met with the employer for three days of conciliation, January 6–8, 2026. Despite serious efforts, very little progress was made.

Porter Dispatchers Secure Tentative Deal, Easing Strike Threat
OpenJaw.com
Porter Airlines has reached a tentative agreement with its flight dispatchers, easing the threat of strike action for now.

Peru state oil firm workers kick off three-day strike over privatization plan
Reuters
Workers at Peru's state-run oil company, Petroperu, launched a 72-hour strike on Monday to protest a plan to privatize parts of the firm, though the company asserted that operations remained normal and the government has declared the walkout unlawful.

January 16, 2026

Manitoba Government Takes Steps to Keep Students Safer
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government has introduced a new regulation under the Education Administration Act (EAA) to keep students safe, strengthen transparency, improve public notification and enhance accountability within Manitoba’s teacher registry, Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt announced today.

Registry gets update to include teachers under investigation
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba’s teacher registry is undergoing changes so the public is more in the know when educators are subject to an ongoing investigation.

Pilot project goes swimmingly for Louis Riel students
Winnipeg Free Press
A school trustee is celebrating the “astonishingly good” value-for-money of Winnipeg’s newest swimming program, but division leaders have stopped short of endorsing an expansion.

School absenteeism is growing across Canada and skyrocketing in these Quebec districts
CBC
Finding school too overwhelming, 17-year-old Lily Boucher Rodriguez stopped going altogether after almost two years of intermittent attendance.

Quebec’s proposed Constitution sparks universities’ opposition
University Affairs
As a bill to codify a new Quebec Constitution moves through the province’s National Assembly, universities have become a focal point of resistance. At issue is section 5 of the Act respecting the constitutional autonomy of Québec, which bars government-funded organizations — including universities — from using operating funds to legally challenge legislation that the government deems to be in Quebec’s interest.

How to run a university in Canada? Outsource it to this management consulting firm
National Post
It was Matt Durnin, principal of the consultancy Nous Group, who first mentioned his company’s horrific nickname.

‘Finally did something right’: Unions react to Conestoga president’s retirement
CityNews
The President of Conestoga College, John Tibbits, has unexpectedly left his role, ending his almost 40-year career as the leader of the local institution.

NAIT academic staff vote 83% in favour of strike mandate
CTV News
Academic staff at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) have voted in favour of a strike mandate.

How Universities Are Shutting Out Disabled Students and Staff
unpublished
NAOMI HAD ALWAYS hated school, so much so that she cried for hours when school breaks ended. She hadn’t always considered herself disabled, though. Sure, she’d felt lucky to have discovered her autism and learning disabilities relatively early—and to have started getting accommodations in junior high— given that most autistic women aren’t diagnosed until adulthood, if at all. But until her second semester of university, Naomi hadn’t realized how much autism impacted her life. Then, just before semester’s end, COVID-19 crashed in.

Central Michigan University offering grads $2,000 if they don’t land job
WHTC.com
Central Michigan University will offer graduates $2,000 if they don’t find a job or get admitted to graduate school within six months of commencement.

Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S. Schools Slip
The New York Times
Until recently, Harvard was the most productive research university in the world, according to a global ranking that looks at academic publication.

Premier's Business and Jobs Council Adds New Subcommittees on Tourism, Workforce Development and Trade Diversification
Province of Manitoba
The Manitoba government is adding three new subcommittees on tourism, workforce development and trade diversification to the Premier’s Business and Jobs Council to ensure its work continues to reflect Manitoba’s evolving economic priorities, Premier Wab Kinew announced today.

'Strike-ready': York Region's biggest union pickets over affordability concerns
NewmarketToday.ca
York Region’s CUPE 4900 employees are “strike-ready” after rejecting a tentative deal from the region over affordability concerns.

Ford says Carney’s China deal on EVs will come ‘at the expense of Canadian workers’
CTV News
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is slamming Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trade deal with China, saying it gives that country “a foothold” in the Canadian market which will hurt workers here.

Public service job cuts creating ‘Hunger Games-style anxiety,’ union says
CTV News
A federal union says job cut notices being issued across the public service are creating “Hunger Games-style anxiety” that’s forcing them to fight for their jobs, as the federal government begins to implement its plans to cut 28,000 jobs over the next four years.

Ontario snowstorm ‘proof’ hybrid work is needed after Doug Ford’s return-to-office mandate, unions say
Toronto Star
It’s not often that snowstorms are political.