The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) has called for a Day of Action on Nov. 2 against tuition increase, and for the abolition of tuition.
Despite the long-held view that Canadians are concerned with accessibility of post-secondary education, a review of statistics shows that the situation across the country is not only poor, but worsening. Tuition fees have consistently been on the rise in Canada for decades, and education is becoming less accessible to low-income and working class students. To make matters worse, there are speculations that the provincial government is working towards further deregulation of tuition fees in Ontario, meaning fees could skyrocket.
For all of these reasons, the Day of Action initiative seems like a worthwhile idea. But while I agree in principle with the Day of Action initiative, a closer look at the CFS and its track record shows a surprising lack of effectiveness in halting the tuition increases, never mind abolishing them.
The CFS has been accused of being a highly bureaucratized institution whose practices and corporate culture have alienated its leadership from the students it claims to represent. According a report on studentunion.ca, the CFS is governed as a de facto oligarchy consisting of a small clique of directors and staff. This is reflected in the recent action of 10 students unions signing a letter criticizing the organization for its lack of transparency and effectiveness.
Nothing is more symbolic of the disconnect between students and the CFS than “The Day of Action Guide” prepared in anticipation of Nov. 2. At no point in the guide does the CFS recommend its organizers to empower students to shape the “abolish fees” campaign, instead it relegates students to be passive supporters of what is effectively a day of action for CFS lobbying efforts.
The CFS’s complete disregard of the 2012 Quebec student strike in the guide also demonstrates its unwillingness to build a radical and combative student movement. The Quebec strike was the largest and longest of its kind in Canadian history, involving more than 300,000 post-secondary students. It halted tuition increase, and was largely responsible for overturning the provincial government. The Quebec strike is considered by many as one of the “most important contestation of neoliberalism to take place in North America,” and provides important historical lessons for the student movement. By not mentioning the strike once in the guide, the CFS is denying students what is arguably their most important militant experience, and their most powerful tool.
Radical and democratic structures in the student movement is what allowed for the massive mobilization to take place—a feature the CFS lacks. The Association For Student Union Solidarity (ASSÉ), initially the smallest of the three main student associations in Quebec, became the most influential group during the strike due to its emphasis on militancy and direct democracy. While other student groups at the time functioned with representatives with vested powers, like the CFS does, ASSÉ had elected spokespersons with no authority other than articulating collective decisions of general assemblies, empowering and implicating students in shaping and directing their own movement, demands, and future.
The Quebec strike must serve as an example for those genuinely seeking to mobilize and empower students.The strike demonstrates that general assemblies and a genuine democratic structure are a pre-condition if we are to develop a strong, militant and revolutionary student movement. Meanwhile, we as students must continuously push for the democratization of the CFS, and demand the adoption of general assemblies as the highest decision-making body.
Only then can we consider mobilizing for the abolition of tuition. Only then can the Day of Action be genuinely considered a day of student action.
