Overview
Today marks the fourth day of intense negotiations between striking student groups and the Quebec government over tuition hikes. Government officials have been meeting with student group representatives over the past few days to negotiate proposals from the organizations hoping to reduce or freeze the planned tuition increase. Heightened tensions within the last month or so have led to nightly student protests in Montreal and Quebec City. As Quebec’s budget faces a shortfall, the finance minister announced last March that the government would be raising tuition fees by C$325 ($315 (US)) each year over the next five years.
Student groups joined together in August 2011 to form a campaign to overturn the proposed fee increases. The first major rally in Montreal occurred in November 2011 when 30,000 students took to the streets to protest against the tuition increases. The now 16-week student strike at Quebec universities and colleges began on February 13th which led to a 200,000 strong march in Montreal on March 22nd. Additional demonstrations were sparked in response to the May 18th passage of Bill 78, which places restrictions on protests and increases fines for protesters who break the law. The May 22nd rally against both the tuition hikes and Bill 78 garnered a crowd of about 250,000 demonstrators. Throughout the duration of these protests, we have seen several instances of hostile activity as outlined below.
- May 10: The public Metro system was temporarily shut down after a series of three smoke bombs were detonated on three Metro lines during the morning rush hour.
- May 16: 122 people were arrested overnight after demonstrators took to the streets and vandalized businesses in Montreal. The city’s police department reported five bank branches had their windows shattered during the protest activity.
Key Points
- Over 2,500 people have been arrested since the student strike began in February at more than a dozen colleges and universities in Quebec.
- Protests in Montreal and Quebec City sparked solidarity actions in cities across Canada including Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, London and Kingston on May 30th. Demonstrators banged on pots and pans to show support for student groups.
- One of the lead student groups involved in the negotiations is CLASSE, which has been described as similar to Occupy movements. CLASSE organizes small general assembly meetings to give every participating member the opportunity to vote on proposals. The group’s leader, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, has become the face of the Quebec student protests.
- The hacktivist group Anonymous threatened to go after the Montreal Formula One race as part of its campaign against Quebec’s Bill 78. Anonymous is currently being blamed for posting 131 names, phone numbers and email addresses of individuals who bought tickets to the Montreal F1 race this morning.
Implications
Student issues and the politics surrounding them have fueled civil unrest before. The Quebec activity against tuition increases has resonated with protesters worldwide. This past week in particular, demonstrators in major US cities have been marching on behalf of, and showing solidarity for, the Canadian protesters. As the negotiations are ongoing, we anticipate a continuation of the solidarity actions.