Google notifying Canadian employees impacted by global layoff of 12,000 workers

Google Canada office entrance is seen in this 2018 photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

TORONTO — Google says Canadian employees affected by recently announced job cuts are being told today whether they have been laid off.

Google Canada spokesperson Lauren Skelly says notifications are being sent to staff impacted by the cuts announced last month.

Skelly wouldn't say how many Canadians are being laid off and in what departments or cities they work, but said Canada remains an important and priority market for Google.

Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google and parent company Alphabet, told staff in mid-January that his company would be laying off 12,000 workers.

Pichai said the business had hired for a different economic reality than the one that materialized, thus necessitating job cuts.

Days after Pichai's announcement, Google also said it would close the Edmonton office owned by its artificial intelligence subsidiary DeepMind.