‘Unsettling’: B.C. student not attending university in Quebec after tuition controversy

17-year-old Ireland Bassendowski from Dawson Creek, B.C. once thought that she would be wearing the colours of Bishop’s University, in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, after high school.

“I’ve had my heart set on Bishop’s since I was 14 years old, I wanted to be a math teacher in Quebec for a long time and it’s pretty disappointing,” said Ireland.

But that all changed in October when we brought you her story, after Quebec announced it was hiking tuition for out-of-province students attending English universities – almost double the usual $9,000.

They partially walked back that decision on December 14, imposing new French-language requirements and raising tuition by 33 per cent to $12,000 for students at McGill and Concordia. Bishop’s University was exempt.

“This has caused a lot of unnecessary stress, on a lot of future university students because it’s already such a big decision and it can be stressful already,” Ireland said. “You’re deciding like one of the biggest things in your life and having having that thrown into it made it really unnecessarily difficult and stressful and thinking like, ‘Okay, now where else can I go?’ and pretty much putting out applications anywhere you can think.”

Ireland ended up finding a better program she says is more suited for her.

“It’s just still devastating though because I did have my heart set on going to Bishop’s,” she said.

The university will still have to hit the same francization rate as McGill and Concordia meaning as of the 2025-26 school year, they’ll have to make sure that 80 per cent of graduates have an intermediate knowledge of spoken French.

“I’d be thrilled to learn more French, that would be super super cool and a great opportunity,” Ireland said. “But I think the whole time being there, I would be nervous that something like this happens again, like what if like I might have to transfer? It’s unsettling.”

Ireland’s mother, Dianne, says she has lost trust in the Quebec government.

“[They have] showed us that they will take really drastic harsh announcements and changes very quickly and so my worry is as a parent is, in year one or year two or year three of post-secondary in Quebec, what if something else comes down the pipe?”

Ultimately, the government’s exemption is too little too late for Ireland who won’t be attending Bishop’s.

“There’s so much uncertainty that I don’t think I feel comfortable going there anymore unfortunately.”