Student strike and protest marks 10-year anniversary of Quebec's Maple Spring

Ten years ago, massive student protests took over Montreal, in a movement that came to be called the 'Maple Spring.'

At the time, they were demanding a freeze on tuition, and they are credited as helping to bring down Jean Charest's Liberal government.

To mark the anniversary, protesters are gathering in Montreal's downtown core on Tuesday again, demanding free education at all levels.

The event began at 1 p.m. at Place du Canada. The group Gratuité scolaire said 50 student associations representing 85,000 students are planning to strike, demanding free tuition.

"It has been 10 years since the historic demonstration against the tuition fee hike in 2012," organizers of the protest wrote on their Facebook event page. "Although the drastic increase being proposed at the time was blocked, it has been replaced with yearly indexed increases, causing access to post-secondary education to become more and more expensive and inaccessible."

The protests launched the political careers of some of the protesters including Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who was a leading figure and is now the parliamentary leader for Quebec Solidaire.

The group says it costs $4,310 annually to attend post-secondary education.

"Even today, free education is a viable project that, with the necessary political will, could be implemented without much difficulty," the organizers wrote.

 

Protestors gathering at Place du Canada in commemoration of the Maple Spring 10 years ago. Lucille Tang-Levac says she was only eight back then but that issues remain: she believes free higher Ed is a right. @CTVMontreal pic.twitter.com/YACuHtXo38

— Billy Shields (@billyshields) March 22, 2022

Many protesters drawing parallels from 2012– one of my first TV assignments. Protests wound through town well into the night for weeks and kept getting bigger and bigger. @CTVMontreal pic.twitter.com/BhvyfCJsyu

— Billy Shields (@billyshields) March 22, 2022

One point these demonstrators are making is how student interns are being exploited with little to nothing in the way of wages. They point out it is something that has a greater detrimental impact on marginalized groups. @CTVMontreal pic.twitter.com/5Z6FyzDD32

— Billy Shields (@billyshields) March 22, 2022