While observing the Quebec student protests over the past few weeks, I’ve been confronted with one recurring thought: this can’t be real.
It’s not for the reasons people might think. It’s not that, according to an article published in the Toronto Star, roughly one-third of all post-secondary students in Quebec are taking part in the movement. It’s not that overzealous protestors smoke-bombed a Montreal metro station. It’s not even that all of this is happening in the province with the lowest tuition where students carry the least student debt, according to the Montreal Gazette. The thing is, I just can’t imagine something like that happening on this side of the border.
In just over three months, the protest – known as the Red Square – has become one of the most powerful movements in recent memory. Confronting a provincial government that proposed increasing the cost of a three-year university degree from $6,500 to $12,000, protesters have already received concessions. Since protests began, Premier Jean Charest has offered to spread the tuition hike over seven years instead of five, cutting the annual increase from $325 to $254. He’s also offered to increase the number of bursaries and loans available and allow students the opportunity to have input in how universities apply other fees.
While obviously not everything students are looking for, compared to the virtually non-existent gains from the Canadian Federation of Students’ (CFS) “Drop Fees” campaign that serves the same purpose in the rest of the country, it looks like a pretty good start – a great start if you consider that “Drop Fees” supporters aren’t being repressed by police.
At a time when tuition for a typical four-year degree in Canada has risen to an average of $22,000 – well above the average of $4,000 per year proposed by the Charest government that sparked the protests – students outside of la belle province need to take note of the results of the steamroller energy in Quebec and follow suit.
In order to make gains, the apathy surrounding “Drop Fees” and similar campaigns can’t persist. Passing out flyers can no longer be the ace in the hole.
A report from the CFS shows that student debt in Canada now totals more than $14.5 billion and is continuing to rise. According to the report, Quebecers are the best off of any Canadians, graduating with an average debt of just over $13,000. While some argue that students in Quebec are “spoiled” because of their eagerness to protest rises in already low fees, the link between the low fees and the willingness of students in Quebec to organize should instead be explored.
In an open letter to the CFS, the Ontario Students’ Mobilization Coalition wrote: “Quebec has shown, again and again, that the only way to force concession from governments is to mobilize on a mass basis through a strike campaign and confront the government, not with postcards, but with action!”
This is a message that students across the country need to be taking to heart.
The benefits aren’t hard to see: In 2005, a collective action similar to the Red Square, though smaller in scale, led the provincial government to axe a plan to cut $103 million in bursaries in Quebec.
By contrast, after British Columbia lifted its six-year tuition freeze a decade ago, protest was limited to 50 people camping in the University of British Columbia administration offices for one night. The result? Tuition at most universities in the province tripled over the next three years.
New avenues must be explored in the battle to keep education accessible, and the Quebec model has proven most effective.
While many argue that responsibility lies in the hands of schools and governments, I’m not so sure they are entirely to blame.
At some point, the students must stand up.
Nothing will change until the Red Square goes cross-country.
