Quebec students to protest tuition hikes for out-of-province students

Thousands of students from McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s universities will take to the streets of Montreal Monday to protest Quebec’s decision to double tuition fees for out-of-province students.

“Students feel very upset about this and they want to make their voices heard through their right to protest,” said Sophia Stacey, the president of the Students’ Representative Council at Bishop’s University.

The students’ council at Bishop’s is planning on busing hundreds of students from their campus — about 160 kilometres from Montreal in the Eastern Townships. They say Quebec’s tuition hikes put their university particularly at risk, with some 30 per cent of their students coming from out of province.

“It will be devastating for the future of the university that has been here and contributed to the growth and vibrancy of Quebec for the last 180 years,” Stacey said.

On Oct. 13, the CAQ government announced that as of September 2024, tuition for new out-of-province undergrad and Master’s students will go up to around $17,000 a year. International students will see their fees rise to at least $20,000 a year.

“For the ministry to introduce doubling of the fees, it shows little consideration for the economic reality of young people. It makes it entirely unaffordable,” said Stacey, an Albertan who adds she couldn’t have attended the university with fees that high.

“Bishop’s wouldn’t have been in the cards for me if these fees are what they plan to be next September.”

The CAQ government has argued that out-of-province students are a threat to French because they don’t learn the language and leave the province after their studies – but has not provided data to back those statements.

“We’ve been asking where is the data? Where is the evidence to support a policy that’s going to have a devastating impact on an institution and individuals and we have seen no data,” Stacey said.

The move has been criticized by English and French universities, the business community, the mayor of Montreal, Quebec opposition parties and federals MPs.

“Students are contributing way more to their education than the government is, so whether they stay here or not after they finish their degree, the amount that they’re contributing while they’re here studying — rent, food, cost of living — is undeniable. If students are going to invest in the future of Quebec, the government needs to invest in them,” Stacey concluded.

The protest will begin at 1 p.m. Monday at Dorchester Square in downtown Montreal.