The Student Mobilization Committee (SMC), a coalition of organizations and student groups across Canada with the aim of establishing complete public funding for education, convened at the University of Ottawa on Jan. 29.
Dozens of speakers representing different progressive organizations championed free education from varying perspectives, including the Canadian Federation of Students, Ontario Public Interest Research Group and Science for the People. They discussed debt forgiveness, barriers for international students and the politics of education.
Luca Piomelli, an organizer with the SMC and a history and political science student at uOttawa, said he hoped to “raise awareness about our demands and start a dialogue.”
“A number of the organizations involved have free education as a central demand, and grappling with student fees is an experience common to all students,” Piomelli said. “Yet, the demand for free education isn’t something that has really permeated the student body in universities, at least not in Ottawa.”
Piomelli said the predominant privatization of the education sector is one of the many challenges universities and colleges face.
In 2019, Ontario Premier Doug Ford cut tuition by 10 per cent for in-province students and proceeded to “freeze” tuition rates. As a result, one-third of Ontario universities stated they would face significant deficits in the upcoming years.
Carleton University addressed the impacts of these actions in a November letter to the Carleton community. It has since said the university’s financial deficit could reach $38 million this fiscal year if it does not take action to address financial challenges.
“As a consequence, these institutions need to be run like a business to make up the deficit,” Piomelli said. “This means raising tuition for students by quite a significant amount.”
With less tuition funds streaming in, universities now have to cut programs and charge tuition five times more expensive on average for international students than that of domestic students to make up the difference. At Carleton, international students pay four times more than Canadian students.
“Universities were increasing [international students’] tuition exponentially and enticing them to come as much as possible, essentially because they wanted to exploit them,” Piomelli said.
Piomelli said that international students’ are demanding universal free tuition across Canadian universities, which already exists in countries like Germany, Greece and Finland.
“International students were innocent in all that, and part of our demand is universal free tuition — something that exists in many other countries,” Piomelli said.
Elnaz Enayatpour, an international development student and co-president of the University of Ottawa NDP, said this underfunding of education has since exacerbated staffing problems with teachers and education workers, which worsen working and learning conditions in Ontario schools.
Enayatpour said in addition to navigating an underfunded education system, students are being thrust into housing and cost of living crises.
“We’re scared of the apathy this is fostering amongst young people, who are too occupied with finding money for rent and groceries to engage with their higher education the way they should,” Enayatpour said. “Young people, and subsequently our country, are being set up for failure.”
Aaron Hagos, a fourth-year health science student at uOttawa, said they felt motivated to take action at the event.
“It was inspiring, providing valuable insights into the fight for accessible education,” Hagos said.
To close the event, Piomelli said the SMC intends to further broaden its scope beyond uOttawa.
He said electing candidates that align with the SMC’s goals to student unions, elected university bodies, clubs and societies at uOttawa and Carleton University can develop their platform.
“Making this a truly Ottawa-based organization, as opposed to just uOttawa, is going to be a big goal for the next year, and we’re going to try and host events on Carleton campus,” Piomelli said.
Piomelli said the SMC is determined to forge a better future for students in Canada by unifying behind their collective passion for social justice and equity.
“The long-term effects of ignoring a bleeding education system are disastrous for Canadians, our quality of life and the integrity of our democracy,” Enayatpour said. “Students deserve to be able to see a place for themselves in the future of this province.”
Featured Image by Kendall Clarke/the Charlatan.
