The 2021-22 Laurentian University Crisis is a controversial and unprecedented financial crisis at Laurentian University in northern Ontario, Canada. After experiencing financial difficulties over a period of years, the university filed for creditor protection on February 1, 2021. The university subsequently closed 69 undergraduate and graduate programs and terminated 195 faculty and staff with little notice or severance. The federated universities of Laurentian eliminated 143 positions. Approximately 932 students were affected. It also marked the first time in Canadian history that a public university sought to restructure under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).
The crisis has provoked sharp criticism of both the university administration and the Premiership of Doug Ford as well as sparking discussion of the state of postsecondary education in Canada, including Indigenous and Franco-Ontarian education. Concerns have also been raised about the impact of the cuts on the cultural and economic life of northern Ontario, with estimates predicting an economic cost of over $100 million to the city of Greater Sudbury.
The auditor general's final report from November 2022 acknowledged external factors in the crisis, but identified the primary cause of the crisis as the poorly planned capital expansions that were exacerbated by administrative bloat and weak board and provincial oversight. The report confirmed that the instigation of CCAA restructuring was strategically planned by the administration on the advice of external counsel, thus bypassing the collective agreement provisions with the faculty union regarding financial exigency.
Restructuring process
On February 1, 2021, Laurentian University president Robert Haché confirmed that the university had filed for creditor protection. Court filings revealed that the university's liabilities amounted to $321 million, including $91 million in loans from three Canadian banks.
The university continued to offer 107 undergraduate programs and 33 graduate programs in the aftermath of the closures and terminations. The university indicated that "We anticipate that approximately 10 per cent of undergraduate students...will be affected in some way by these program adjustments."
As part of restructuring, the university announced that it was considering the sale of some of its real estate, including the last undeveloped waterfront on Sudbury's Lake Nepahwin. For the community response, see .
From 2014 to 2021, the university spent over $160 million on new infrastructure, with around $140 million of that total coming from government subsidies and private donations.
The president reported at the university senate in September that over $9.8 million had been expended on restructuring costs. The court-appointed monitor also had earlier indicated that the university would be spending nearly $10 million in additional costs by February 2022, as well as $1.8 million in interest loan fees on the debtor-in-possession loan from Firm Capital that was received through the CCAA insolvency process. The DIP loan was assumed by the provincial government on January 31 as part of its intervention, regarding which see . As of May 1, 2022, restructuring costs were reported as $20.9 million, with an additional $3.9 million in charges related to the DIP loan. The monitor also projected there would be nearly $8 million in additional costs by September 30.
The court approved the university's request to extend restructuring several times.