Thousands of university students are expected to forgo their classes and gather in downtown Montreal Monday afternoon to protest Quebec’s tuition hike.
Demonstrators will gather at Dorchester Square around 1 p.m. and march to the front of McGill University’s Roddick Gates.
“The plan to double tuition for out-of-province students is politicizing access to education. We cannot let this happen,” the event’s Facebook page reads. “Montreal’s diverse student presence should be celebrated–it is a key characteristic and contributor to the city’s culture. And that is something to be proud of. This senseless raise in tuition will dwindle this, a striking quality that makes the city so notable.”
In the fall of 2024, tuition will nearly double for out-of-province undergraduate students, bringing fees up to about $17,000 a year.
Meanwhile, tuition for international students is also expected to increase, as Quebec will charge universities $20,000 per international enrolment, the proceeds of which will be invested into French-language institutions.
The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government argues that the hikes, announced earlier this month, will help correct an imbalance between French and English university networks.
It also says the measures will protect the health of the French language in Quebec, claiming that too many anglophone students come to the province to study in English only to leave after graduation.
The move was met with fierce backlash from both English and French universities in Quebec, who say the hikes will devastate their finances and damage Montreal’s reputation as an academic destination.
Monday’s protest is dubbed ‘Blue Fall’ by its organizers, a nod to the Maple Spring tuition protests of 2012 and in reference to the CAQ’s colours.
This is developing story that will be updated.