Concordia students begin 3-day strike against Quebec’s tuition hikes, picket lines formed around campus

Concordia University students in Montreal were picketing outside their classrooms and in university buildings on Wednesday, as part of a three-day strike against the Quebec government’s decision to hike tuition for out-of-province and international students at English universities.

11,000 students have been asked not to attend class in solidarity. Picket lines were formed in front of classes that were still being held, in hopes of them being cancelled in honour of the strike.

“We believe that this is just the beginning and these all start somewhere,” said Keith Day, a geography student on strike. “When we first initially voted, we only had two student associations to vote on strike. But then as we came to the days leading up to this strike, we’ve had up to 12 and from 1,000 all the way to 11,000 students on strike within Concordia and McGill.”

Students wore red squares, reminiscent of the symbol of the student strikes in 2012. Groups marched around campus banging on pots and belting out different chants like “The student united will never be defeated.”

“There’s a certain base level of rage,” said Angelica Antonakopoulos, ASFA’s academic coordinator. “Students are kind of ready to show that they are dissatisfied. They are ready to cause a disruption to urge their peers to join us in the fight against tuition hikes.

“This represents our collective dissent as the student body towards a measure that will absolutely decimate our academic institutions and the feeling within the four walls, or the metaphorical four walls of this institution is palpable.”

The CAQ government is raising fees by 30 per cent from $9,000 to a minimum of $12,000 per year for out-of-province students and international students would have to pay a base rate of $20,000 – as of the start of the 2024-25 academic year.

“Education should be affordable and accessible for everyone,” said Dinu Mahapatuna, president of the Concordia Association for students in English. “No one should be excluded from an education and English students especially, we feel pretty threatened right now.”

A new French requirement was also introduced starting the 2025-2026 year – students graduating from English-language universities have to pass a French proficiency test and speak at a conversation level by graduation.

The CAQ government says this is a way to promote the use of the French language and bolster francophone universities by re-investing the money in their programs.

But the new measures are what some Concordia students want revoked.

Students are holding activities on campus from Wednesday to Friday. Organizers of the strike are encouraging students to join the picket lines by reporting to the Hall building.

“We never strike without reason, usually it’s when the province is being unreasonable like they are right now,” said Mahapatuna. “We’re just trying to make our voices heard. This is not about ‘causing war.’ It’s about like trying to be heard and using student platforms to do so.”