Ontario delayed inspections of 2 career colleges later given ‘fails’: court docs

Ontario delayed inspections of two career colleges that ultimately turned up serious concerns about student financial aid use, which meant the schools received a “fail” only after they had been approved for funding for another year, court records show.

Critics say it points to severe mismanagement of public money and the government has made the wrong people pay the price.

The Ministry of Colleges and Universities sent Academy of Learning locations in Toronto on Bay Street and in Brampton East notices of inspection on Oct. 1, 2024, according to court records, but did not start the in-person inspections until July and August of 2025, respectively.

“I apologize for the delay, which was due to transitions in roles and the implementation of new inspection procedures,” a ministry official wrote in an email to the Brampton East location, looking to schedule an on-site inspection.

That was four days after the schools were sent ministry notices approving their ability to accept Ontario Student Assistance Program-funded tuition for another year.

Correspondence between the schools and the ministry is among hundreds of pages of documents filed in court as Academy of Learning seeks judicial review of the ministry’s ultimate decision in 2026 to bar them from OSAP eligibility for a year, a ban that has now been extended to 2030.

Concerns about OSAP activity at the schools have been raised by various groups and governments, but no misuse has been proven in court. The schools deny allegations that anything improper occurred and have implemented a long list of corrective actions.

Their OSAP approval in 2025 came despite warnings months earlier from both the federal government and the industry’s own association, Career Colleges Ontario. That organization wrote a letter to the ministry in January 2025, flagging “irregularities” in OSAP usage at 10 schools, including the two Academy of Learning locations.

Growth in OSAP applications at most career colleges was flat between 2022 and 2024, Career College Ontario wrote, but the Bay location saw growth of 642 per cent, and Brampton East saw 527 per cent.

In May of 2025, the federal government told the province about serious concerns with those schools. As the federal government detailed to the schools a few months later, those concerns included unusually rapid growth and “evidence of systematic irregularities.”

The schools have said that instead of being viewed as an indicator of risk, growth represents “a reflection of program relevance, responsiveness to workforce needs, and public confidence in the institution’s delivery of quality education.”

Court records show the provincial inspections ultimately found, in September for the Bay location and in March 2026 for the Brampton East location, evidence suggesting third parties were completing the coursework — sometimes entire courses in one day — and a few students who couldn’t name their school or program.

Students may not have responded to the federal government’s verification attempts because they believed them to be scam calls, and other students having difficulty answering questions in interviews “can be reasonably attributed to situational and linguistic factors,” the school wrote in response to the government.

The Academy of Learning also suggests the government is interpreting IP address data incorrectly. Unusually rapid course completion warrants review, they have said.

Successful OSAP applications at those two schools, which share a parent company, totalled $173 million in grants alone in 2024-25, according to data previously obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request. The number rises to $219 million when a North York location that is a branch of Brampton East is added.

In comparison, students at all publicly funded colleges across the province that year received $385 million in provincial grants.

Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn drastically reduced the amount of OSAP grants that students at universities and publicly funded colleges could receive in the name of “sustainability” as the program was facing rising costs. Those costs were later revealed by The Canadian Press to largely be due to activity at a small number of career colleges.

Quinn has also now paused OSAP payments to students at all career colleges and other private post-secondary institutions as his government and an outside firm conduct a broader review of the issue.

Liberal colleges and universities critic Tyler Watt said those actions make Quinn’s delayed action on potential bad actors all the more baffling.

“Their recent actions, where they’ve completely pulled the rug out from every single student in the private sector, goes to show you that they are willing to take drastic action,” he said.

“It’s not OK at all what they’ve done to students and the people that are following the rules, but there’s no reasonable explanation why they let this go on and wasted this much of taxpayers’ money for as long as they did.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the government has failed students and the public.

“This amounts to severe mismanagement of public money by the Ford government,” he wrote in a statement. “For years, this government has been aware of private career colleges breaking the rules and has allowed them to continue to benefit from OSAP.”

NDP critic Peggy Sattler said the government should have acted earlier on the numerous warnings it received.

“The government still dragged its heels on conducting the investigation that it is obligated to do and then blames students for misusing OSAP grants and punishes the entire sector for its own incompetence,” she said.

A spokesperson for Quinn said the inspection process can be long and in-depth.

“As we have stated, these inspections are multifaceted, and include reviewing data within the ministry’s possession, data requested from the institution that is provided to the ministry Inspectors, and in-person inspections,” Bianca Giacoboni wrote in a statement.

“Due to the technical nature of this process, inspections and subsequent investigations can take over a year. The ministry cannot presume the outcome of these investigations until all steps have been completed.”

OSAP applications at those schools actually went down in 2025-26, the province said in court filings. In the case of the Brampton East location, the number of OSAP recipients dropped by 34 per cent from the previous year, compared to growth of 1,347 per cent from 2021-22 to 2024-25.

The decline is timed around the start of the ministry’s in-person inspections, the government says in a document filed in court.

The Academy of Learning says no single factor explains that decline.

“We reject any suggestion that the decline reflects wrongdoing,” the schools wrote in a statement.

“Enrolment fell during a period of significant uncertainty, as students received repeated communications questioning their OSAP funding and our eligibility. Many chose to withdraw, postpone or not start their studies. In the same period, we ended some community partner arrangements and added verification measures.”