Law360 Canada ( April 17, 2025, 2:59 PM EDT) -- Appeal by Piekut from judgment of the British Columbia Court of Appeal, which affirmed a decision denying Piekut’s release from government student loans debts. Between 1987 and 1994, Piekut obtained student loans through a federal government program. She obtained additional federal student loans from 2002 to 2003. She later enrolled in self-funded studies on a part-time basis. In 2009, she earned a Master of Education degree. In 2013, Piekut made a consumer proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA). She listed her liabilities, which included her student loan debt. A certificate of full performance was granted in 2017. In 2019, Piekut applied for a declaration that she had ceased to be a full- or part-time student under s. 178(1)(g) of the BIA in 2003, and that her student loan debt was released under s. 178(2). The application was dismissed. In line with the decision rendered in Mallory (Re), the chambers judge held that the seven-year timeline ran from the latest date that the bankrupt ceased to be a full- or part-time student, in this case, 2009. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. It found that Mallory (Re) had been correctly decided, and that the chambers judge had properly followed it. The question to be determined was when did a bankrupt ceased to be a full- or part-time student under s. 178(1)(g)(ii) of the BIA....