A 12-week strike at Toronto’s York University ended this morning, when the Ontario government enacted legislation ordering about 3,400 teaching assistants, part-time faculty members, and graduate assistants to return to work.

It also ordered both the university, Canada’s third largest, and the union to accept binding arbitration. York said students would return to class on Monday. The university will announce plans shortly to complete the term by extending it.

The strike, which began on November 6, set a record for the longest walkout at an English-speaking university in Canada. It affected 50,000 undergraduates and has “poisoned” the relations between York and the union, according to The Globe and Mail.

Earlier today the newspaper reported that Ontario’s premier, Dalton McGuinty, “assailed York University yesterday for compromising its reputation after the school’s president rejected his 11th-hour appeal to end the strike that has kept students out of class for 84 days.” —Karen Birchard