Concordia, McGill University students march against tuition hikes

Thousands of students in Montreal from Concordia and McGill universities hit the picket lines Wednesday to denounce increasing tuition fees for out-of-province and international students at English universities. 

The Quebec government plans to increase fees from roughly $9,000 to $12,000 except at Bishop’s — Quebec’s only other English university — which was exempted because it is outside Montreal.

“The proposed tuition hikes have a major damaging effect for all Concordia students, Concordia staff, Concordia faculty, and our institution itself,” said Hannah Jackson, the external and mobilization coordinator of the Concordia Student Union (CSU). “These tuition hikes make going to school in Quebec unaffordable.”

The demonstration began at 3 p.m. at the corner of Mackay and de Maisonneuve near Concordia’s Hall building. Students marched toward the McGill University campus.

“This seems to be more of a tactic to gain political favor, at least on (Premier Francois) Legault’s part,” said Dinu ‘Melissa’ Mahapatuna, an English literature and mathematics student at Concordia. “So it’s really important that students actually represent their rights and their needs and their interests because provincial government is clearly failing to do so.

“It’s already slowly starting to affect us on a university level, but we will see that this is the beginning of, essentially, the downfall of education.”

Jackson calls the tuition hikes “an attack on all of us as students.”

“Our hope is that the tuition hike, which is discriminatory and only imposed on a small portion of our community, will be completely rescinded by the Legault government,” she said.

Jackson estimates 25,000 students are on strike.

“If our demands are still not being met, and the tuition hikes are still in effect, we will increase our mobilization and increase our pressure on the government,” said Jackson.

Added Mahapatuna: “We really hope that the province feels pressured to take action and acknowledge that students do not want this, that this is not in the public’s best interest.”

Both Concordia and McGill say they have recorded significant drops in applications since Quebec announced the tuition hike in October and have warned it could trigger a drop in enrolment and devastate their finances.

“Concordia University, McGill University will have less funds to work with because funding comes from tuition,” Jackson said.