Striking Back

Foundation 1625 Looks to Support Student Lawsuits

NewsPierre Chauvin — Published September 11, 2012

On Aug. 30, Kim Laganière and Mihai Adrian Draghici launched a class action lawsuit against 25 CEGEPs and universities asking for compensation for the strike’s impact on their studies.

On July 4, Laurent Proulx, Alexandre Meterissian and Marc-Olivier Fortin created Foundation 1625, a non-profit association aimed at raising funds to help support Laganière and Draghici in fighting their case’s way through the legal system.

“Those two students found that there were several damages that the students affected by the strike had to live with, so they got some legal advice, and obviously that advice is not free and this is not a simple case,” said Laurent Proulx. “This is where Foundation 1625 entered the game.”

Proulx, who made headlines in April after successfully winning an injunction to attend his class at Laval University despite the student strike, was also a columnist for The Prince Arthur Herald, a blog created by McGill University students that claims to be the “largest student-run national newspaper” in Canada, despite not publishing a print edition.

Alexandre Meterissian is the Herald’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and Marc-Olivier Fortin is its Chief Communications Officer. According to his profile on the Conservative Party of Canada’s website, Fortin is also the president of Foundation 1625, whose name is a reference to the $1,625 tuition hike.

“The fact is that we were involved with the Herald before Foundation 1625 and we did not create the Herald to make propaganda about it, except the day of the deposit of the request—and yes, we did an informative column on this, but there is no link between those two organizations.”
—Laurent Proulx
Prince Arthur Herald Columnist & Foundation 1625 Co-Founder

“We’ve also received some financial help from individuals who gave us cheques,” said Proulx. “We’re a fully legal and registered non-profit organization. We are allowed and able to receive donations.”

However, he says the lawsuit is not directed at students opposing the tuition hike.

“You have to understand that this action has nothing to do at all with the tuition hike,” said Proulx. “The fact is that people have the right to fight against tuition hikes. People have the right to protest and express themselves.

“The only problem we have with that is that the tuition bill that the students receive is a contract between each student individually and the university, and when the universities and colleges choose to recognize the validity of a strike vote, they expose themselves to a lawsuit because it’s a breach of contract,” said Proulx.

“The fact is that we were involved with [the Herald] before Foundation 1625 and we did not create the [Herald] to make propaganda about it, except the day of the deposit of the request—and yes, we did an informative column on this, but there is no link between those two organizations,” said Proulx, when asked about potential conflict of interests.

While The Link wasn’t able to find any articles on the Herald’s website regarding Foundation 1625, the Herald did use its Twitter and Facebook accounts to promote the foundation.

“As any other CEO at any other media company, I’m engaged in a host of different activities,” said Alexandre Meterissian, comparing his situation to that of Quebecor owner and businessman Pierre Karl Péladeau.

Meterissian added that, as CEO, he didn’t deal with “the journalistic side” of the Herald.

When asked whether he had any effect on the editorial content of Herald, he said, “No, none at all.”

The Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante co-spokesperson Jeanne Reynolds thinks the class-action lawsuit by Foundation 1625 is “very individualistic,” and warned of the long financial commitment.

“On several campuses there are solidarity funds—as well as food baskets—that were created for people in need, and for us, it’s an approach that is more solidarity-based than the one done by [Foundation 1625],” Reynolds said.

—with files from Corey Pool

This article originally appeared in Volume 33, Issue 4, published September 11, 2012.