About 2,000 students took to the streets in Montreal on Tuesday to demand free education, 10 years to the day after the historic Maple Spring protest.
Updated yesterday at 4:55 p.m.
Students brought out the red square, symbol of the 2012 student strike, during the demonstration, which began at 1 p.m. at Place du Canada. “Ten years later, same story”, “Too poor for school”, “If a broccoli costs $5, imagine my education”, could be read on signs.
More than 82,000 CEGEP and university students are on strike Tuesday across the province to demand free education, from primary to university.
“Free education is still a fight. We are still paying too much for our studies and with inflation, student debt is even greater,” said Frédéric Beaulieu-Demers, student at Ahuntsic College. “Don’t compare yourself to others. [systèmes d’éducation]we have to try to improve,” he argued.
The date of March 22 was not chosen at random: on the same day, in 2012, more than 100,000 people took to the streets of Montreal to oppose the hike in tuition fees – one of the biggest maple spring gatherings. Ten years later, students want to put free education back on the agenda.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFACON, THE PRESS
“It is important to commemorate 2012, a historic moment for the people of Quebec. I notice that in ten years, not much has really changed and the government has never [attaqué] to our demands,” lamented Max Fleurentin, between two rallying cries.
A heavy police presence framed the protest, which remained peaceful. The Montreal Police Service reported no overflow at the end of the afternoon.
An increasingly high student bill
Since 2012, the student bill has continued to climb, despite the indexation of tuition fees according to disposable household income per capita.
In 2020, the index jumped by 8.2%, which could translate into a larger increase in tuition fees for a full-time student in 2022-2023, according to the most recent data from the Institute of Quebec statistics. In recent years, the average annual increase in household income has been around 2.6%.
On the sidelines of the CAQ government’s budget, Frédéric Beaulieu-Demers hoped for good news for students. “It would be ridiculous to have raises. I know inflation is coming, but I hope I don’t pay the price,” he said.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFACON, THE PRESS
Finance Minister Éric Girard said Tuesday that Higher Education Minister Danielle McCann will soon give more details on the tuition fee hike. “I can tell you that it will not be extraordinary indexing,” reassured Mr. Girard.
Saying he understood the demands of the demonstrators, he declared that free education “is hardly viable”. “Universities need to be funded and if we want quality, high-performance, competitive universities. They need funding and students have a part to play in that,” explained Mr. Girard.
Today, Quebec students pay an average of $3,761 per year in tuition fees and other costs for their studies, or $875 more than 10 years ago, according to data from the Ministry of Higher Education and Statistics Canada compiled by The Press. Taking into account the impact of the reduction in tax credits, the increase is more like $1,020 instead of $875.
Only the beginning?
In addition to free education, student associations will hold strike days throughout the week for the remuneration of internships and the fight for climate justice.
“This is just the beginning, let’s continue the fight,” chanted the demonstrators. The protest continues Thursday evening at Émilie-Gamelin Park in Montreal, a nod to 2012 and its nightly protests.
“It’s hard to predict [quelle ampleur prendra le mouvement]but we can say that it is really beautiful to see the youth, the students going out in the street, and to see that they stand up for their convictions and their demands”, rejoiced David, a student in political science at the University of Quebec in Montreal who did not wish to be identified.
With Marie-Eve Morasse, The Press