It was a few days before the start of the academic year that we learned of the gap of nearly $4,000 that had just opened up in the budgets of several students. The latter have learned that the scholarship program to support the perseverance and success of trainees will be interrupted. This took place less than a week before the expected date of receiving scholarships for students who are doing their last baccalaureate internship in the fall. They therefore begin the pivotal moment of their baccalaureate without the resource that had been promised to them and from which they had planned their budget. Remember that they will work full time without pay.
The excuse given by the Legault government is that this scholarship will be replaced by the Perspective Québec program. This initiative is intended as an incentive to increase enrollment in certain programs of study in need of manpower and deemed to be priorities in Quebec. Students in targeted programs will be able to apply and receive a scholarship of $2,500 per semester, awarded once proof of successful completion of all semester courses has been provided and all applications have been processed.
Since the social services and education sectors are marked by a major labor shortage, the education, nursing and social work programs are part of the Perspective Québec scholarship program. However, on the pretext that these scholarships are more generous, in the long term, than financial compensation for internships, these study programs have been removed from the list of programs eligible for financial compensation for internships announced in 2019 following the mobilization student for the recognition of the work carried out by the student population in internship. However, what will happen to the financial compensation for internships when the government deems that the Perspective Québec program has had its day?
From a strictly financial point of view, the two programs are far from being equivalent. While the financial compensation for the internship initially planned was to be given to us in two installments, the first at the start of the session and the second after confirmation of the success of the internship, it turns out that the students will not see the color of the scholarship Perspective Québec only in February 2023, once all the applications filed in the fall have been processed. Until then, groceries, rent, and all other expenses will add up, in times of inflation, to boot.
Furthermore, no mention of this change has been communicated directly to the members of the student population concerned, despite what Minister McCann may say. It has therefore been impossible for the current interns to plan their fall budget accordingly.
What is more, these two programs, in the eyes of the student population, do not meet the same objectives at all. Internship financial compensation is a first step towards equity for interns. They recognize the additional financial burden imposed by an internship and the underlying student work, and this, in fields dominated by women. Conversely, the Perspective Québec scholarships explicitly aim to attract more students to sectors where it is a priority to compensate for the shortage of manpower in the eyes of the government.
We express serious concerns about the sustainability of financial compensation for internships, and for this reason, we demand that they be maintained when the Perspective Québec scholarships are withdrawn. Also, we are asking Minister Danielle McCann to immediately pay the financial compensation for the internship initially planned for this fall semester, to ensure a decent financial situation during the internship.
The government wishes to make up for the scarcity of labour; however, it is by offering adequate study and internship conditions, without tripping up the student population at the last minute, that it will succeed in making health, social services and education really appealing. Measures that set student status back, in the short or long term, are not acceptable measures.
* This text is signed by Catherine Boire-Messier, Coralie Boudreau-Rivière, Florence Brousseau, Léïa Charette, Philippe Doucet, Véronique Girard, Savannah Hamaoui,
Camille Nicaise and François Sergerie St-Jacques, responsible for various student associations in six universities. Details of their affiliations can be found on our digital platforms.