Bell Canada Layoffs Cut Nearly 700 Jobs Across BCE
Bell Canada layoffs are cutting nearly 700 jobs at BCE Inc., with the reductions communicated to staff in recent weeks and set to hit employees across the organization and country. The move reaches 460 non-union employees and targets 230 unionized roles, while Bell Media is not affected.
BCE cuts 460 non-union jobs
460 non-union employees are being laid off, including some managers, as BCE continues trimming roles outside its unionized workforce. Luc Levasseur said the move is part of Bell’s three-year strategy to “drive sustainable growth in a highly competitive market.”
230 unionized roles are also targeted through voluntary departure packages, widening the reduction beyond management and non-union staff. Bell had 38,683 employees at the end of 2025, and 39 per cent of them were unionized, so the latest cut reaches a meaningful slice of the company’s labor base.
Bell’s fibre shift and cost push
Bell said the reductions “reflect several initiatives, including the migration of customers to a more resilient, easier-to-maintain fibre network and ongoing operating efficiencies.” That puts the job cuts alongside the company’s push to rework operations as customers move onto fibre and as Bell tries to lower the cost of running the network.
$1.7-billion is what Bell is spending to build an AI data centre in Saskatchewan, even as it cuts jobs elsewhere in the business. Levasseur said, “Bell continues to invest in key areas that drive business growth, creating hundreds of new jobs across Canada,” drawing a line between the layoffs and the company’s hiring in other parts of the operation.
650 non-union cuts last November
650 non-unionized employees were cut last November, and in February Bell offered severance packages to 1,200 unionized employees across Canada. Earlier this year, the company also terminated a small number of employees for violating its code of conduct after saying they had intentionally and repeatedly falsified workplace attendance by entering the office, swiping in with their key card to record attendance, and then immediately leaving the premises.
For workers inside Bell, the latest round means the cuts are not isolated to one group or one region. For investors, the sequence shows BCE is still reshaping headcount while it spends heavily on fibre and artificial intelligence, and the next practical question is how much further that reorganization extends after this round of layoffs.
