Concordia students vote to strike as Quebec increases tuition fees

Thousands of Concordia University students are refusing to go to class after voting for a strike over the CAQ government's tuition fee increase for out-of-province and international students.

"We have a risk of incredibly damaging universities like Concordia University, universities like McGill that rely on out-of-province and international students," said Hannah Jackson, external affairs and mobilization coordinator of the Concordia Student Union (CSU). "[We] not only risk the quality of education for these affected students in terms of tuition hikes, but also all students because the quality of our education will decrease due to decreased enrollment because of these tuition hikes."

According to the CSU, the entire Faculty of Fine Arts, as well as undergraduate and graduate students in geography, undergraduates in urban planning, the history department, women's studies department, the biochemistry, chemistry and physics departments, the sociology and anthropology departments, the School of Community and Public Affairs and the Science College of Loyola are part of the demonstration.

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The Political Science Student Association (PSSA) is slated to vote on Tuesday, and the Software Computer and Engineering Science Society (SCS) is set to vote on Wednesday.

The student union calls it "a historical mobilization, an expression of student resistance to unjust tuition hikes."

"It's a step up in the escalation in terms of making sure that the government actually hears us," said Jackson. "We had the largest petition that was ever delivered to the National Assembly back in November opposing the tuition hikes, and we haven't seen any kind of response to that."

She says she wants the government to take responsibility for its actions.

"We had a single day walkout, and we haven't seen anything other than on the university side, the offering of these bursaries, and on the Quebec side, just reducing the number to a still exorbitant amount," said Jackson. "This is the next step of escalation in terms of saying that students are united in their opposition to these tuition hikes, and they must be struck down."

She adds the tuition exceptions made for students from France and Belgium are racism in disguise, as students from other French-speaking countries are not excluded from the hikes.

"This is not an example of promoting the French language. This is actually a racist and xenophobic practice," Jackson argues. "If we're really talking about promoting the French language, we expect all francophones from across the world to be treated equitably...These tuition hikes are not about promoting the French language. They are about promoting xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment."

The student movement is slated to take place from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2.

Tuition hikes imposed by the Quebec government promise to raise fees by 30 per cent from $9,000 to a minimum of $12,000 per year for out-of-province students.

International students would now have to pay a base rate of $20,000, with the government collecting $3,000 in fees.

The tuition fee increases are set to be implemented at the start of the 2024-25 academic year.

The Quebec government is also demanding that students graduating from English-language universities be evaluated at a Level 5 on the Quebec scale of French-language proficiency by the end of their undergraduate degree program.