International Language Academy of Canada says it has filed for bankruptcy protection and is ceasing operations, cancelling all classes at its four Vancouver locations effective immediately.
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International Language Academy of Canada (ILAC) has announced it is closing permanently, leaving students at its four Vancouver campuses without classes and programming following a bankruptcy protection filing. The Toronto-based private English-language school said the closure is effective immediately, with all instruction cancelled for students enrolled across its Vancouver sites.
In a notice posted on its website on Friday, Sept. 18, ILAC said it has filed for bankruptcy protection and will cease operations. The school stated that it has cancelled “all classes and programming” at the same time, indicating students will not continue learning through the usual fall schedule at any campus.
ILAC described the business impact of the past several years as it pointed to “increased financial challenges” linked to “significant regulatory changes” affecting the private education sector. The school said it tried to keep operating during that period while continuing to provide education, but concluded it no longer had the financial resources required to continue.
The closure follows ILAC’s longer track record in Canada. The school said it opened its first campus in 1997 and expanded to Vancouver in 2014. Over nearly three decades, ILAC said it welcomed thousands of students from more than 75 countries and had partnership agreements with more than 85 Canadian post-secondary institutions.
ILAC also said KPMG Inc. has been appointed as the Licensed Insolvency Trustee for the company. The appointment places the process for winding down operations and handling creditor and student-related matters under an insolvency framework, while the school indicated it is working with relevant regulators during the transition.
In its message to the ILAC community, the school said it “deeply regrets” the challenges its students, employees and partners will face because of the decision. ILAC said it is working with regulators to ensure students receive support and to minimize impacts “where possible,” but it did not outline specific next steps for individual students in the information provided.
Students and alumni expressed sadness about the closure in posts shared on social media. The material includes remarks from former ILAC students who said they attended ILAC Toronto in 2005 and ILAC Vancouver in 2006, describing the school as an “amazing” English institute and saying they felt grateful for knowledge and experiences gained through the program.
The shutdown comes as other private and post-secondary institutions in British Columbia have also faced upheaval tied to financial pressure. The material notes that Vancouver’s Vancouver Institute of Media Arts (VanArts) announced it was ending its operations at its Terminal Avenue campus on Aug. 27, one day before it marked its end as a private institute.
VanArts also stated that it would continue in a new form at Vancouver Community College (VCC). That item in the information provided describes VanArts thanking students, alumni, instructors, staff, industry partners and friends for more than three decades of involvement as it shifted pathways.
Broader financial strain was also referenced through recent workforce changes at some B.C. universities. The material mentions layoffs of dozens of staff members at the University of the Fraser Valley and Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and it includes comments attributed to Pauline Greaves, president of the Langara Faculty Association, who said in 2025 that programs in areas such as humanities, English and business could be lost due to those pressures.
For Vancouver students who rely on private language schools as a step toward career training or further studies, ILAC’s sudden closure is likely to have immediate practical effects. With all classes and programming cancelled effective immediately at its Vancouver sites, students may need to quickly re-evaluate study plans, timelines and any arrangements connected to enrollment and institutional partnerships, particularly those who were preparing for entry into Canadian post-secondary pathways.
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