The Christenson Group of Companies, an Edmonton-based developer and operator of seniors housing communities across Alberta, has obtained creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) as it seeks to restructure amid mounting financial pressure from life lease liabilities and secured debt. Ernst & Young Inc. has been appointed as monitor.

The initial order, granted by Justice Colin Feasby of the Alberta Court of King’s Bench on October 10, 2025, provides a 10-day stay of proceedings, with a follow-up hearing scheduled on October 27, 2025 to consider an extension. The application was opposed by National Bank of Canada, which filed its own receivership application for one of the properties, as well as many life lease residents, who will presumably seek to argue the initial order should not have been granted on the comeback hearing. The initial order covers multiple entities under the Christenson Group umbrella, including several retirement and assisted-living communities in Edmonton and central Alberta.

According to court filings, the group owes approximately $88 million to 300 former residents awaiting repayment of life lease deposits and another $105 million to secured lenders, with total life lease–related liabilities exceeding $190 million when active contracts are included. The filing warned that without restructuring, life lease holders—many of them seniors who invested their life savings—could recover little or nothing through foreclosure or receivership.

The company cited sustained financial pressure from the COVID-19 downturn, declining occupancy levels in the seniors’ housing sector, and the introduction of new Alberta life lease regulations imposing a 9% annual interest rate on delayed repayments as key contributors to its liquidity crisis.

Counsel is Duncan Craig LLP for the companies, McLennan Ross LLP for National Bank. Witten LLP and MLT Aikins LLP have been appointed as representative counsel for current and former life lease residents.