This text is part of the special Syndicalism booklet
Whether it is called “Le Printemps érable” or “Québec spring”, it is certain that the student movement of 2012 has marked people’s consciences. Ten years later, this historic mobilization still influences the action of the student unions. Their demands again relate to financial issues, but not only.
“This event has politicized a generation following 2012,” notes Radia Sentissi, secretary general of the Federation of student associations on the campus of the University of Montreal (FAECUM). The latter has observed an increase in enrollments in faculties of social or political sciences and a renewed interest among students in their condition. “The movement has trained the next generation of politicians and remains in the collective memory,” believes Radia Sentissi.
For the Quebec Collegiate Student Federation (FECQ), Maple Spring showed students that they could change things by coming together, and elected officials the importance of listening to their demands. “The government knows very well that, if it were to touch tuition fees, the student population would be able to organize to defend what it believes in,” warns Maya Labrosse, president of the FECQ.
Financial questions
Radia Sentissi notes a great diversification of demands compared to 2012. “Tuition fees remain at the heart of the student movement alongside other demands such as access to student housing,” she says. The FAECUM is mobilizing in particular so that the financial aid for studies takes into account the real costs of the rents paid by the students according to the city where they are studying for the calculation of living expenses. “It takes into account a fixed amount of rent. But in Trois-Rivières, the rents are not the same as in Montreal,” points out Radia Sentissi, who also calls for a reduction in the student contribution to university funding. “Tuition fees paid by the student community represent 16% of the university budget, whereas they represented only 10% in 2013”, she says.
In February 2022, 57 student unions came together to denounce the changes to the process for enrolling students in their group insurance, announced by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). These changes could, according to them, deprive many young people of coverage. “It’s an essential service that covers health, dental and psychological care,” says Radia Sentissi. As soon as we became aware of this threat, we managed to rally behind this cause. This shows that student associations are able to unite in the face of certain issues, ”underlines the one who is vigilantly awaiting the result of the public consultation carried out on this subject this fall.
For its part, the FECQ is mobilizing so that internships in predominantly female sectors (such as education or nursing) are paid. “It’s unfair and, in the context of a labor shortage, we cannot accept that interns work on a voluntary basis to carry out tasks normally performed by people paid for this,” denounces Maya Labrosse. The FECQ is also asking for an amendment to the Act respecting municipal taxation to exempt all student housing from property tax, including at the college level.
No amnesty for sexual violence
Radia Sentissi welcomes certain progress made by student mobilization in recent years, such as the Action Plan on student mental health in higher education or the p-22.1 law which aims to prevent and fight against sexual violence on campuses. But other measures must make it possible to act against this violence (one student in 10 was sexually assaulted in 2018 in a post-secondary context, according to Statistics Canada).
The two unions are mobilizing against the amnesty clauses of certain university collective agreements. “Currently, the disciplinary portions placed on the file of a staff member (professor, lecturer, support staff, etc.) due to acts of sexual violence are often erased one or two years later by the game of these conventions which do not make a distinction according to the cause of the sanction”, warns Maya Labrosse.
If a new Maple Spring is not on the agenda, the president of the FECQ is waiting to see which files the government will decide to put forward in its action. “The student population can decide to mobilize quickly for everything related to the environment and climate justice, but also for other important issues, such as compensation for internships and financial access to studies, which are in becoming a luxury,” she warns. Radia Sentissi, for its part, has seen a restart since the end of the restrictions linked to COVID-19. “The return to face-to-face has a very positive impact on student participation, and many want to get involved,” she says.
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