Polytechnique Montréal student union hold demonstration over increased internship fees

The union representing over 7,000 engineering students at Polytechnique in Montreal held a demonstration on Thursday after the university announced its plans to phase out grants aimed at offsetting education costs. More than 200 students voiced their frustrations through chants, signage, and songs at the administration’s decision.

Currently, Quebec residents pay $670, while out-of-province or international students whose country has an agreement on school fees with Quebec, such as France or Belgium — pay $1,300.

Offered since 2014, these grants aim to help students pay for mandatory internships, though the school said it would stop offering them by the 2027 winter semester. 

According to a Polytechnique Montréal press release, supporting measures are being put in place to help ‘mitigate’ financial impact on the student community. They explain that the “withdrawal of the compensatory scholarship will be spread over two years, resulting in an equivalent increase in tuition fees for three credits in January 2026 and a similar increase in January 2027.”

Starting January 2026, those figures jump from $670 to $1,300 for Quebec residents and $1,300 to $3,300.

“We’re really glad they decided to mobilize themselves, and at the end of the day, this movement couldn’t exist without the support of the students,” said Gabriel Comby, the president of the Polytechnique Student Association (AEP).

Students voicing their concerns

“What we hear and what we see today with the presence of so many people is that students can’t pay for this, and they don’t want to pay for this.”

Comby says the two-day strike could happen on September 25 and 26, in which students are expected to boycott classes and block student entrances. Hundreds of students participated in their last strike vote, which saw 93 per cent in favour. 

“What we have voted during our General Assembly is a renewable strike, so it can keep going after two days if the issue is not cleared. Of course, it needs the support of the community,” Comby said.

“Once students will say, ‘Well, we don’t want to strike anymore, we’re scared for our classes,’ which is very understandable, then we will move to other methods of mobilization.”

Currently, the Polytechnique board of directors are set to vote on the increase on September 24. If it’s a yes vote, the strike would begin the next day.

Polytechnique Vice-President of Academic Affairs and Student Experience, Pierre Langlois, says discussions with the association have been ongoing for over 18 months and clarifies that international students from regions such as Iran or North Africa will see their fees significantly reduced.

He adds that the total amount paid for mandatory internships for international students will be brought to the same level as that for Canadian students not residing in Quebec.

“It’s a subject that’s touching very profoundly our student body, and we’re very interested to know and understand fully how they receive the changes,” Landlois said.

“We’re very present, we want to know the feeling, we want to be present, we want to talk, we want to have a dialogue.”

Paid internships

For the engineering programs, the average pay rate for a student intern fetches $25 an hour, totaling $15,000 per internship — much more than the province’s minimum wage, which reached $16.10.

“More than half of our students do more than one internship, and many do three. So during their studies, they have the potential to earn up to $45,000 and more on average,” Langlois explained in an interview on Tuesday.

Langlois also informed that the average starting salary for engineering graduates is $76,304.

When CityNews asked Comby why a $15,000 internship couldn’t help to pay these fees, a clear and concise answer was not provided.

“We are really aware that we’re lucky to be paid for an internship, [AEP’s] position has always been clear that every intern in Quebec should be paid for their internship. However, when you have this salary, you then have to pay for your whole year after that, your rent, the other schooling fees,” he explained.

“[At] Polytechnique, it’s very hard to work at the same time that you’re studying because the studies are very heavy on your time, on your calendar. And so asking for more money, subtracting more money from what you gain in the summer that you used to pay for the rest of your year is just irresponsible.”

Comby claims that despite payments, many students have resorted to lining up for food banks to fill up their fridge while also struggling to make their monthly rent.

On Tuesday, Langlois explains that there are existing programs and services for students who find themselves in a crisis like this, though at the demonstration, many students disapproved of the academic’s comments.

“Some of my past messages have been used in a way that I find deplorable and I would like to say that we know that some students are faced with financial hardships. That’s a fact,” he said.

“We have many programs in place to help specifically these people, especially international students who are probably 10 times as likely to be in financial hardship. That’s why we’re maintaining the bursaries for the internships.”

Additionally, Langlois says if a student finds an internship on their own instead of going through the university’s job board, the fees will be reduced by as much as half. He also reiterated that all the fees collected are redistributed through the campus and go directly into student services.

For the potential strike, Langlois said their priority is also to make sure that the campus remains a safe place.

“My personal concern after the safety of everybody is I want to make sure that classes will be able to happen either on that day or we’ll have to adjust the academic calendar,”

“We’re planning on having communication with the board, of course, our communications with the board or with the school are always open,” Comby said.

“However, what’s not open for negotiation is students can’t pay these increased fees.”