(Montreal) A Quebec Superior Court judge has rejected Concordia University’s request to delay a controversial tuition fee increase for non-Quebec and international students.
Justice Éric Dufour ruled on July 12 that suspending the fee increase would disrupt the Quebec government’s funding plan for the province’s universities. Concordia had asked that the increase be halted until the legal challenge on the merits is heard.
Concordia and McGill universities are fighting tuition fee hikes announced last fall in an effort by the Quebec government to protect French. Opposing English universities say the change is discriminatory and will hurt enrollment.
Concordia proved that it would suffer “serious or irreparable harm” from the new rules, Dufour wrote, but that was not enough to justify suspending the increase.
A Concordia spokeswoman said the suspension request was “just one step in the process and we look forward to making our concerns heard.” [les] arguments of [l’Université] on the background “.
Starting this fall, non-Quebec students at the province’s universities will have to pay an additional 33% in tuition fees, or about $12,000 per year – and at least $20,000 for foreign students.
Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry unveiled the changes last October, saying they were necessary to prevent the decline of the French language in Quebec. The government promised to redistribute the extra funding to French-language universities, which are welcoming fewer out-of-province and international students.
The government had initially planned to nearly double out-of-province tuition fees to $17,000. In December, Mme Déry reduced the increase to $12,000, but added a requirement that 80% of out-of-province and international students must learn French.
Concordia and McGill both argue that the tuition increase constitutes discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Concordia predicts the change will result in a 12 per cent drop in enrolment and a loss of $21 million in funding for the 2024-25 academic year.
The university told the court that the loss of out-of-province and international students would affect “the financial stability and academic development of the university, to the detriment of Quebec’s English-speaking community.”
The Quebec government countered that section 15 of the Charter does not protect against discrimination based on language. The attorney general argued that delaying the tuition fee increase would require “a reassessment of budgetary rules for the entire university network,” according to the decision.
The two universities will argue their cases on the merits in court this fall.