Ten years after the big demonstration that launched Maple Spring in 2012, the students are doing it again. Thousands of college and university students are to begin a four-day strike on Tuesday for free education. Others argue instead for limiting the increase in tuition fees, on this day of the presentation of the budget in Quebec.
A student march is due to start at 1 p.m. at Place du Canada in downtown Montreal. This is where the extraordinary mobilization of Maple Spring began 10 years ago. A human tide of more than 100,000 people had swept that day in 2012.
“It is high time to mobilize again to demand that education is not a consumer good and is free”, proclaim the student associations which are trying to revive the militant fervor of a decade ago.
More than 82,000 students from the University of Montreal, the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), other universities and a dozen cegeps, according to the organizers, will be on strike as of Tuesday. This represents a little more than 16% of the workforce in CEGEPs and universities (which altogether welcome approximately 492,000 students).
Limit the rise
The Quebec Student Union (UEQ), which represents more than 91,000 university students, has not taken a position on the strike, but still supports its associations, which voted to end classes. “We support any mobilization that aims to improve access to studies,” says Jonathan Desroches, interim president of the UEQ.
The student representative will be at the presentation of the Legault government’s budget on Tuesday in Quebec. The UEQ seeks to curb the increase in university tuition fees, which would be 8.2% for the year 2022-2023, according to the formula established in 2013 in the wake of Maple Spring. This increase would represent an additional bill of $223 per year for students.
Tuition fees are now indexed according to the variation in “disposable household income per capita”. The average increase in tuition fees since 2013 is 2.6% per year, according to official figures, but in 2020 the index has increased by 8.2%, according to data released in the last few days by the Institute of Statistics of Quebec. It is this percentage that will be used for indexing in 2022-2023.
This 8.2% increase in household income was undoubtedly “artificially inflated” by government aid in times of a pandemic, argues the UEQ.
“This index remains only a guide. The Minister of Higher Education could propose a different indexation calculation method without departing from the 2013 agreements,” said Bryan St-Louis, spokesperson for the Ministry of Higher Education.
This formula “does not limit the powers of recommendation either” of the Advisory Committee on financial accessibility to studies, he specifies. The consultations will be launched soon, said Bryan St-Louis.
Cost of life
Jonathan Desroches pleads for limiting the increase in tuition fees as much as possible, given the record inflation that is weighing on student budgets. He is also calling for an increase in financial aid for studies, in this context of the explosion in the cost of living.
The QSU also continues to campaign for the remuneration of student internships, after gains for teaching and psychology interns. Jonathan Desroches is also delighted with the adoption during the winter of Bill 14, which grants interns paid leave and protections against psychological and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Another demonstration, for the climate this one, is planned for Friday. High school students will be able to join, at least in Montreal, since it will be a pedagogical day at the Center de services scolaire de Montréal.