McGill, Concordia students to protest Quebec’s plan to hike tuition for out-of-province students

A day of student action is set for Oct. 30, as thousands from Montreal’s two English universities, McGill and Concordia, are expected to skip class and march through the streets, denouncing the Quebec government’s plan to hike tuition by nearly double for out-of-province students starting next fall.

It’s being dubbed the “blue fall protest,” organized by McGill student, Alex O’Neill and Concordia student, Noah Sparrow.

“The goal of this action is to showcase to the Quebec government that students are in solidarity with each other,” said Sparrow. “We thought someone needs to do something about this because this is discriminatory policy.

#WATCH: “This is completely ridiculous,” says Concordia student, Noah Sparrow, planning a day of protest against Quebec’s tuition hikes for new out-of-province students at English universities.

READ: https://t.co/S8IPxBcglX pic.twitter.com/SVnCfWRbHq

— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) October 23, 2023

“This is completely ridiculous and it’s quite frankly it’s politicizing access to education when this is not the issue that the government should be focusing on at all.”

For O’Neill, the action is a grass-roots approach. “To actually lead to a tangible reneging of this proposition from the National Assembly’s tabling,” he said. “If we don’t get what we want, we’re just going to keep on fighting.”

On Oct. 13, the CAQ government announced that as of Sept. 2024 tuition for new out-of-province undergrad or Master’s students will go up to around $17,000 dollars annually at English universities – now it’s at just under $9,000. While international students will see their fees rise to at least $20,000 a year. 

Sparrow is from Toronto and studies creative writing at Concordia University.

“If I was born a few years later, then this would be affecting me and my life would be completely different. I would not be able to afford studying at Concordia,” said Sparrow. “I know personally a lot of people from my hometown who have expressed interest to me about coming to McGill and Concordia and now they are second guessing this because of these changes.”

Both universities just held their open houses. O’Neill is a student ambassador for McGill and provided campus tours.

“We saw throughout the day much fewer people walking onto campus asking questions about admissions from outside of the province and that is definitely going to be a concern for the universities,” said O’Neill.

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) issued a joint statement Oct. 20 saying the move excludes students from quality education. The groups plan on holding town hall meetings at the schools Wednesday and Thursday to allow current students to voice their concerns about the issue.

“For the Legault government to essentially deprive us and Concordia of those opportunities to educate those from all over the world and bring talent to Quebec, it’s just going to bite them back where they don’t want it to,” said O’Neill.

The CAQ faced backlash from opposition parties, the mayor of Montreal and the federal government, but say this is not an attack on English speakers, but rather a way, they say, to protect the French language, particularly in Montreal, where many students leave after graduation.

The students are planning to march as of 1 p.m. on Oct. 30 from Dorchester Square in downtown Montreal to McGill University’s Roddick Gates.

“We are not going to stop fighting for these changes to be reversed, we are expecting thousands at this protest,” said Sparrow. “Every single student union and students in general that we have communicated with have expressed great support for our cause and we are very hopeful.”