Capital Idea
Students Gather Against Tuition Increases in Quebec City
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As members of Quebec’s National Assembly went back to work on Friday, they were welcomed with chants of, “Students, united, will never be defeated.”
As members of Quebec’s National Assembly went back to work on Friday, they were welcomed with chants of, “Students, united, will never be defeated.”
Over a hundred demonstrators gathered outside the Centre des congrès de Quebec on Oct. 21 to protest rising tuition rates. Armed with signs bearing slogans like, “Educated people will never be defeated,” and, “It’s a right,” the protestors donned red felt squares—a traditional symbol of the student movement—and marched for four hours.
For many of the students in the crowd, fighting tuition hikes is about ensuring access to education for future students, not for themselves. Most of the protesters will never be directly affected by the proposed $1,625 increase in yearly tuition. Students like Holly Nazar, VP External for the Concordia Graduate Students’ Association.
“I don’t like to see essential public services that increase social solidarity and produce thoughtful citizens privatized,” said Nazar, who will be entering her final semester in Concordia’s Masters program in Media Studies this winter.
Indeed, solidarity seemed to define the spirit of the protest, which brought together students from Concordia, the Université de Montréal, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec and the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec.
“We are solidaire,” said FECQ President Leo Bureau-Blouin. “The people that are here are going to be workers one day. They are going to need doctors, teachers and lawyers. They are going to pay taxes. I think that they are all concerned about the future of Quebec.”
This way of thinking seems to signify the shift in social consciousness of the generation that is coming into power. Increased enrollment is not viewed as creating increased competition for jobs, but as a catalyst for diversifying culture.
GSA President Robert Sonin said that increasing fees changes the thinking for many students who will choose to go into fields that are more likely to guarantee jobs upon graduation, instead of pursuing their real interests.
“There’s always a tipping point,” said Sonin. “At some point, somebody says, ‘That’s it for me.’ We are going to get people who are only going to school with an eye for paying off debt. What ends up happening there is, you have so many graduates, there are no jobs [in those fields].”
The students’ thinking is that, when access to education is limited to only those who can afford inflated tuition fees, society suffers.
“We are all concerned about tuition hikes because of the future of Quebec society. We need educated people to make a society that works, a society that can compete with other nations,” said Bureau-Blouin.
