Student associations bringing together more than 22,000 students will go on strike this week to denounce the increase in tuition fees for international students and those from other provinces attending English-speaking institutions.
Around twenty student associations from Concordia University and four from McGill University are joining forces to oppose the new terms for Canadian or foreign students who will begin their studies in fall 2024. A demonstration is notably planned this Wednesday near Concordia University, in Montreal, at the corner of MacKay Street and De Maisonneuve Boulevard.
Last October, the Coalition Avenir Québec announced its intention to make students pay “ rest of canada » the equivalent of what their training costs the government, or $17,000 per year. As for international students, the political party intended to charge them a minimum price of $20,000.
The Minister of Higher Education, Pascal Déry, later reversed his position regarding this pricing, setting tuition fees for Canadian students at a minimum of $12,000, instead of $17,000. At the same time, she announced that Bishop’s University would be exempt from her reform.
More than 11,000 students from McGill and Concordia have already held a three-day walkout at the end of January-beginning of February to stand up to the Legault government, according to the group of student associations.
Both McGill and Concordia universities took legal action late last month to challenge the tuition hike. In its appeal, McGill considers the measures imposed on English-speaking universities “discriminatory”. Concordia, for its part, deplores the rejection of its proposal regarding francization by Quebec.
“We are happy that the administrations have heard the students’ concerns and we support their initiative, but we cannot afford to wait for the verdict of these legal proceedings,” the student associations expressed in a press release in preparation for this week’s strike.
McGill and Concordia also launched scholarship programs at the end of 2023 to financially support students from other provinces. However, these exclude international students and their amounts are based on the average grade of students at the time of their admission.
For the grouping of student associations, this grant system “is not a guaranteed long-term solution”. He also rejects “the imposition of a meritocratic system” and refuses to “abandon” foreign students in the “struggle for a fair and accessible education” for all.