Employees of COM DEV International will be seeing layoffs after the company announced restructuring in its Canadian government space division.
The firm says 31 employees will be laid off in Cambridge and Ottawa, but it is unclear how the layoffs break down between the two cities.
An additional 10 employees are being transferred to open positions within the company.
The cuts are reportedly a result of uncertainty surrounding the funding of Canadian Space Agency (CSA) projects.
In a media release COM DEV CEO Michael Pley said “The funding situation on the CSA's Radarsat Constellation Mission is still uncertain and, if not resolved in the near future, will result in further job losses once development funding runs out later this year.”
That mission includes building three earth observation satellites to monitor coastal areas, northern territories, Arctic waterways and maritime areas.
COM DEV was contracted to provide the central electronics and automatic identification system payloads for the Radarsat Constellation Mission.
A statement sent to CTV News from the office of federal Industry Minister Christian Paradis says while they sympathize with workers, it is a business decision made by the company.
"Our government is playing a crucial role in the development of the Canadian space sector and we remain committed to the RADARSAT project."
The restructuring is expected to cost the company about $2 million.
