Members of Carleton’s Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) and other students in opposition to the provincial changes to university tuitions occupied a Jan. 25 Carleton and University of Ottawa (U of O) Conservatives event hosting MPP Merrilee Fullerton.
Fullerton is the Ontario minister of training, colleges, and universities.
According to videos retrieved by the Charlatan, several students walked into the event—hosted at Fox and Feather Pub and Grill—chanting with signs and banners to bring the event to a halt. The GSA live-streamed a portion of the protest on their Facebook page.
Students occupying the event said they came with the intention to protest the changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) announced by Fullerton on behalf of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives (PC) earlier this month.
The changes included a removal of the former free tuition program for low-income students, and the six-month interest-free grace period for loan repayment for students in Ontario.
Kieran Moloney, president of the Carleton Conservatives, said he understood why students would wish to protest these changes, but that he was “disgusted” by their disregard of Fullerton.
“This event was planned long before even the OSAP changes came into being or were proposed. It’s been in the works for several months and has been the hard work of so many students to arrange,” he said. “This event was merely to be one of our broader series of events we’ve planned to let students know first-hand what the PC government is doing in Ontario.”
“I was fully accepting and even willing to have students from Carleton and U of O to come and ask questions related to the changes proposed . . . what I did not expect was for the GSA to organize and publicize a silencing of MPP Fullerton—especially during her speech—at an event that was hosting her to speak and address questions from everyone.”
Moloney added that Fullerton was escorted out of the venue through the emergency escape shortly after the protestors arrived. He said the questions round, which was to be held after Fullerton’s speech, was cancelled as a result.
“By the time I got back into the building after escorting the minister, the protestors were all gone,” he said. “It just showed that they had come to the event to shut down the event and scare the minister away. Once they had accomplished this goal, they were happy to go on their merry way.”
Ashley Courchene, the vice-president (finance) of the GSA who was present at the venue, said he disagreed with Moloney, adding students “definitely wanted to ask questions, but were not given the chance to do so.”
He said students protesting at the event were there to “let the minister know these changes are an attack on democratic student-led organizations and will cause students massive amounts of debt in the future.”
“I think the minister only listens to their own right-wing base and targets students that don’t agree with them,” Courchene said. “The plan here was to show the minister that the cuts affect us deeply . . . we just wanted the minister to put a face to those numbers.”
“I think Fullerton decided to leave without hearing the rest of us. It’s worth noting that she only spent 10 minutes after we entered to listen and then quickly left without hearing us out.”
Gaelan Kirby, a fifth-year engineering student, co-organized several student rallies in the past weeks to protest the provincial changes. He said he went to the event because it was a way to confront the minister face-to-face.
“It’s one thing to sign petitions and hold rallies, but it’s another thing to meet a spokesperson for these changes that will affect us in person,” he said, noting an Ontario-wide petition he recently merged with three other students from the University of Windsor and Seneca College that has since garnered more than 230,000 signatures.
Kirby told the Charlatan the protestors found out about the event three days before it was to be held “on a stroke of luck,” adding they thought it would be a good idea to show up “as a sign of their discontent.”
“From my perspective, I decided to attend the event formally and came in before the other protestors to the venue,” he said. “I eventually joined the protestors at the event once they arrived later.”
“To me, it was just reassuring to know that we weren’t the only ones who were concerned about the changes, even the members from the Conservative clubs present there said they felt somewhat similar.”
Moloney said he will not be seeking any legal action against the GSA or other protestors at the event, but wishes to be reimbursed for the costs incurred as a result of their disruption.
When asked about any plans for a potential reimbursement, Courchene told the Charlatan he did not wish to comment at this time.
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