After five days of occupation within its walls, the University of Montreal (UdeM) has undertaken to present a plan by June to get out of fossil fuels by 2025 at the latest.
Posted at 6:05 p.m.
Since Monday, about thirty students occupied the lobby of the Roger-Gaudry pavilion at UdeM to put pressure on management to withdraw its investments in fossil fuels.
They broke camp on Saturday, after winning their case: a commitment from rector Daniel Jutras to present by June “only one or more scenarios of total divestment before December 31, 2025”.
“I’m so proud of what we managed to do. By coming together, by campaigning together, everything we dream of, we have been able to put in place, ”says, feverish, Quentin Lehmann, who has slept on campus all week.
The last few days have not been easy. An activist who had launched a hunger strike, Vincent Vaslin, was taken to hospital on Friday after more than four days of fasting. Even from his hospital bed, he refused to eat until he got a commitment from the University to get out of oil.
“He’s the most resilient person I know,” says Quentin, who is studying political science. The other hunger striker, Catherine Ouellette-Marrero, ended her fast Thursday, worried about her physical and mental health, he reports.
In a letter addressed to the activists, the rector also undertook to make available “the percentage of shares listed on the stock market held directly or indirectly in each sector of stock market investment”. This was the other big demand of the activists: total transparency on the University’s portfolio.
“Although I deplore the use of actions taking the form of an occupation of a university space or a hunger strike, I recognize the leadership of the student movement in the implementation of responsible investment policies in the university context. “said Mr. Jutras in his letter.
He must meet the activists next Monday to discuss their “respective positions”.
Proposals initially refused
On the third day of the occupation, the leadership had presented a first series of proposals to the demonstrators, which they refused. According to them, the wording was not a clear commitment to divestment from fossil fuels by the end of 2025.
In 2020, those actions totaled $98.2 million. UdeM spokeswoman Geneviève O’Meara says a divestment plan had been in the works for several months.
With this plan, UdeM would follow in the footsteps of the University of Quebec in Montreal and Concordia, both of which have already made a commitment to get out of oil.