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CFS marks 30th anniversary, prepares for new day of action

Around 250 student delegates met in Gatineau for the four-day conference. Photo by Antoine Trépanier/CUP
Around 250 student delegates met in Gatineau for the four-day conference. Photo by Antoine Trépanier/CUP
OTTAWA (CUP) — The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) celebrated its 30th anniversary last week at its 60th semi-annual national general meeting held just outside of Ottawa. Nearly 250 delegates convened in Gatineau, QC to discuss student issues at the twice-yearly event, this time held from Nov. 22 to 25.

Feb. 1, à la rue!
Campaigns, budgets and executive reports were all debated and passed, but the overarching theme of the four-day-long conference was the upcoming national day of action on Feb. 1, 2012.

Keynote speakers Justin Trudeau, Liberal member of Parliament, and Nycole Turmel, NDP interim leader of the Official Opposition, both pledged their support for Feb. 1, much to the appreciation of delegates.

“This year is really defined by the national campaign,” said CFS national chairperson Roxanne Dubois.

According to the CFS, the Feb. 1 protest will be multifaceted, targeting the reduction of tuition fees, reduction of student debt and increased education funding.

For Dubois, two topics stood out at this year’s national general meeting.

“The ‘Education is a Right’ campaign and the day of action obviously are one, because we’ve actually been able to talk about it in various caucuses, and different constituency groups were able to identify some materials that would enable them to connect to the campaign more directly,” she said.

The second was the soon-to-be-launched “No Means No” website and mobilization to prevent violence against women in the lead-up to the Dec. 6 commemorative events in remembrance of the École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal in 1989.

Election of a new national chairperson
During closing plenary, delegates voted for their new national executive for 2012–13: the national chairperson, the national deputy chairperson and the national treasurer.

Candidates in each category ran unopposed and all were elected.

Adam Awad, current national deputy chairperson, and originally from the University of Toronto Students’ Union, will take the position of national chairperson. Jessica McCormick of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Students’ Union will become national deputy chairperson and Michael Olson of the Vancouver Island University Students’ Union will become national treasurer. All three will officially assume their new positions next spring.

“I’m actually really excited to have such a diverse [team of] at-large members … I’m really excited to be able to work with three incredibly strong provincial components and to bring the lessons that they’ve learned from the different parts of the country and I think it’s really important to not just have an Ottawa-centric, and Ontario-centric, perspective on how to get the message out,” said Awad on his election.

“I’m really excited to be able to continue working past this year, to continue working for students all across Canada.”

Thoughts from a newcomer

Mark LaRiviere of Trent University had the last words from the floor at closing plenary and though his first experience at a CFS national general meeting left him feeling motivated, he had some reservations about its structure.

“I was told, odds are if you’re a white, male, undergraduate student, [and] heterosexual, then there’s very few constituencies that you can fit in,” said LaRiviere.

Constituency groups are “composed of individual delegates who share a common characteristic as recognized by the federation,” such as students with disabilities, francophone students and international students.

“It’s very established within the structure of the federation to create a space for groups that are traditionally excluded from many decision making processes, and so that’s the recognition of very evidenced social inequalities that we recognize and that we allocate a space for,” said Dubois.

“I feel strongly towards many of the issues … it was a bit of a downer, just because I felt like I could definitely be an advocate for a lot of them,” said LaRiviere, who did not end up participating in any of the constituency groups.

Overall, the meeting was characterized by a strong sense of unity among delegates, and there was very little variance in discourse.

For the next two months, the national office will be concentrating on the planning and roll-out of the upcoming national day of action.

“Over the next two months, the work of the national office … will be to [provide resources to] all of the local communities and campuses that will be organizing for the day of action, with whatever they need,” said Dubois. “And to try and keep a national vision for our goal and for our campaign of putting ‘Education is a Right’ out there — and really trying to garner public and media and community support for accessible education in Canada.”

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McGill student protesters forced off campus

(CUP) — Over 100 riot police stormed McGill campus on the evening of the Nov. 10 tuition fee protests, forcefully dispersing student demonstrators that had gathered in front of the James Administration building. Pepper spray, tear gas and physical force were used by police against demonstrators who were protesting the detainment and violence allegedly used by McGill Security against a group of McGill students who had occupied principal Heather Munroe-Blum’s office earlier in the day.
Fourteen McGill students claim to have been assaulted by McGill Security while they occupied the fifth floor of the James Admin for almost two hours on Thursday afternoon. The sit-in coincided with a 30,000 person-strong demonstration against tuition hikes in the province.
At 4:05 p.m., a group of approximately 50 students entered McGill campus after news of the occupation in the James Admin building reached the demonstrators.
Farid Attar Rifai, president of the Association of McGill University Support Employees, was one of the first people on the scene.
“I saw security … were rushing towards the James building, so I knew [the students] were already inside at that point,” Attar Rifai said.
He explained that, upon his arrival, all entrances to the building were locked, and security guards were positioned outside.
Some of the demonstrators took a megaphone back to the Roddick Gates, where they encouraged others to join them. “We’re in McGill, we need more people,” screamed one demonstrator. The crowd outside of the James Admin grew to around 200 people.
Reports of violence used against the occupiers by McGill Security reached those outside through text messages and phone calls. Demonstrators proceeded to form a human chain around the building, demanding entrance.
At roughly 4:50 p.m., four Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) officers approached the building from the Milton Gates and entered the James Admin through a back door, where students attempted to block them.
“When we heard the cops were coming […] we decided to delay them so people inside could have time to negotiate,” said Attar Rifai.
Deputy provost of student life and learning Morton Mendelson confirmed that he had been inside the James Admin throughout the demonstration.
“There were four police who came to survey the situation. They at no time interacted with the people upstairs,” he told The Daily.
Mendelson noted that he did not know who had called the police officers. According to Mendelson, McGill Security is “mandated—or certainly allowed—to call the police when they feel that there is a threat to people or a threat to property […] but I don’t know what triggered the decision to do that.”
Moments after the four police officers arrived, around 20 students entered through a side door for a peaceful sit-in on the second floor, with McGill Security supervising.
Just before 5 p.m., 20 police officers on bicycles approached James Admin from the Milton Gates. The officers spoke with McGill Security but did not take action immediately.
Officers lined up, using their bicycles as barricades against the demonstrators. Some swung their bikes at the demonstrators who were attempting to push the police off campus.
A brief confrontation took place between demonstrators and police. Demonstrators pushed police back while officers dodged items, including sticks and water bottles, thrown by the crowd. The officers rode away, to the cheering of students.
Shortly after 5 p.m., about 40 riot police entered the campus through the Milton Gates, beating their shields with batons. Police pushed the crowd towards the Arts and Ferrier buildings. Demonstrators were pepper-sprayed after pushing back against the police lines in front of James Admin.
“The University did not call the riot squad. I can tell you that, unequivocally,” Mendelson said in an interview on Nov. 11. “I know that the police who were here called in [the riot squad].”
He elaborated on what led to riot police being called onto campus.
“[The four police officers] looked out the window, and they saw the crowd was growing – there were conversations, things seemed to be getting more heated,” Mendelson explained. “I don’t know why, what factored into their decision.”
Jean-Pierre Brabant, a member of the SPVM’s public relations team, declined to answer questions as to whether the riot police had authorization to enter McGill campus.
A second wave of over 50 riot police surrounded demonstrators on all sides. At this point, students taking part in the sit-in on the first floor of James Admin exited the building.
One demonstrator who was trying to cross police lines on the west side of James Admin was picked up, dragged, and thrown to the ground. Police formed a line and began forcibly pushing demonstrators down the steps, towards the Milton Gates at the edge of campus.
Dozens of demonstrators were pepper sprayed by officers while others carried water to those who had been blinded by the spray.
Gregory Mikkelson, an associate professor in the environment and philosophy departments, was on his way to pick up his children from daycare. While leaving campus, he noticed the protest outside of James Admin and stopped to observe.
“Three Montreal riot police came at me, clubbed me in the ribs and stomach with a baton, knocked me over—I don’t know if it was a club that knocked me over or one of them pushing me, you know, it all happened so fast—I popped right back up and they pepper sprayed me in the face,” Mikkelson said.
“After I was attacked, my first thought was to check with the person I had been talking with shortly before that and see if he had witnessed it, and ask him if I could get his information so I could corroborate if necessary,” he continued.
McGill student Anna Hermanson was involved in the demonstration and explained that police were “actively pushing” student protesters.
“We decided to let go of one another and put our hands up, and say, ‘We’re standing here peacefully, this is our campus, we have a right to be here. Please’—I’m sobbing at this point … asking, ‘Why are you doing this, we’re students, we can be here, we’re protesting peacefully, please don’t come forward,’” she continued.
Fleeing protesters were unable to enter McGill buildings, which had been locked. McGill’s emergency alert system was not activated.
Mendelson spoke to the activation procedure of the system, which is controlled by McGill Security.
“The emergency alert system would go out to all the members of the community, and there’s a trade-off whether or not that would have calmed the situation or fuelled the situation,” he explained.
Once protesters had been pushed off campus onto nearby Milton Street, police shut down the intersection at Milton and University Streets, while demonstrators lingered in the road. Shortly after, tear gas was deployed. The police proceeded to charge towards remaining demonstrators, breaking up the crowd.
McGill student Zoe Pepper-Cunningham, who had been walking through campus with her bicycle and was not involved in the demonstration, explained she was pushed to the ground by police in the intersection.
“I couldn’t run really because I had my bike, so while they were charging, they just pushed me down onto my bike and pinned me on the ground. It was kind of blurry for me but I felt kicking and hitting and they threw my bike—which is now broken, pretty badly—and dragged me by my arms,” she said.
Four arrests were reported from Thursday’s demonstration, two of which have been confirmed to be McGill students. Students Alex Briggs and Ariel Prado were arrested, separately, near the James Admin. Both were released late Thursday evening, although Briggs has a pending court date.
Immediately after the demonstration outside James Admin broke up, McGill student groups, including the Students’ Society of McGill University, the Quebec Public Interest Research Group, and McGill University First Aid Service, began mobilizing to offer support to demonstrators who had been affected.
Students at the fifth-floor sit-in inside the James Administration building were eventually escorted out of the building by two Montreal police officers. According to the students involved, the police were only involved “peripherally” during the occupation, and while administrators first said that they wouldn’t be allowed to leave the building without non-academic probation or charges, in a second round of negotiations, the two parties agreed to the students’ release with no arrests, charges, disciplinary action, or names taken.
According to Mendelson, talks between the two parties concluded in less than five minutes, after administrators had consulted with each other and the Montreal police, and subsequently accepted the students’ terms. The students on the second floor negotiated with a member of McGill Security and a Montreal police officer. One student occupying the second floor said later that the sit-in was non-violent.
Munroe-Blum released a statement Nov. 11, indicating that McGill dean of law Daniel Jutras has been asked to conduct an independent investigation of the events of Nov. 10, to be completed by Dec. 15. The McGill principal added that she was not on campus to witness the events firsthand on Nov. 10, and emphasized that “the presence of the riot squad, which dispersed the protesters by its usual means, was entirely directed by the Montreal police service.”
“The presence of riot police on our campus is shocking,” she wrote.With files from Henry Gass, Queen Arsem-O’Malley and Anthony Lecossois.
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“What do we want? Tuition freeze! When do we want it? Now!”

Despite having to skip class and brave the wind and rain, thousands of Concordia students turned out to march in solidarity with Montreal CÉGEP and university students on Thursday’s day of action in protest against tuition fee hikes.
At several institutions, like Dawson College, students blockaded the entrances to keep others from attending classes. The Dawson Student Union managed to arrange an 11th hour agreement with the CÉGEP administration to cancel classes.
At Concordia, students who chose not to protest were not barred from classes. Those who did want to protest gathered outside at Reggie’s on Mackay Street throughout the morning, and at Loyola, in activities planned by the Concordia Student Union.
After leaving the Reggie’s terrace shortly after 1 p.m., the body of students, armed with placards, banners, and a palpable level of excitement, inched its way along Ste-Catherine Street towards Place Émilie-Gamelin to join forces with tens of thousands of students frustrated with their government’s decision to raise tuition by $325 a year for the next five years.
While CSU president Lex Gill said they didn’t have a crowd estimate for Concordia, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec estimated the entire protest drew around 30,000 people.” Gill said they had far surpassed the 920-people capacity of the Reggie’s terrace.
“I think what really blew me away was being at Ste-Catherine Street and de la Montaigne Street and getting a phone call saying the last bit of people were just leaving Concordia,” Gill said, explaining that students had spilled into the parking lot and onto both Mackay and Bishop Streets, and that the entire second floor of the Hall building had emptied. “It was thousands of people,” she said.
As the students marched along the thoroughfare, they were greeted by a host of McGill University students expectantly waiting at the intersection of Ste-Catherine Street and McGill College Avenue, hoisting their own banners and adding their voices to the cries of “We’ll stand! We’ll fight! Education is a right!” proclaimed by the marching crowd.
Members of the Occupy Montreal movement also swelled their ranks as they marched onwards to Berri-UQAM metro station.
A mass of students had already amassed at Place Émilie-Gamelin by the time the host of students arrived around an hour later.
‘I’m here because I’ve actually been to a lot of these [protests] previously ever since I was in CÉGEP and I had been hoping that those would have been enough to stop [tuition fee hikes] but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case. We’re hoping that this will show the government that there are enough people that are against it and hopefully it will change its mind,” said Alejandro Gomora, a fourth-year psychology student at Concordia.
“I want to be a teacher, and I really don’t like the idea that eventually I am going to have to tell my students that as long as you have money you can be whatever you want to be, but if you don’t, well just give up,” first-year child studies student Alexandra Peters added.
The provincial government, however, shows no signs of stepping down from the proposed $1,625 hike over the next five years. At question period on Thursday, Education Minister Line Beauchamp remained firm on her stance that university students should contribute more.
“A majority of Quebec taxpayers don’t have a university degree and will never earn the salary of a university-educated person – but they finance the majority of the system,” said Beauchamp. “So shouldn’t university students do their part?”
PQ education critic Marie Malavoy has said that the hikes are coming too soon for students, while criticizing the government for the lack of accessibility of loans and bursaries to students.
The 30,000-strong crowd left the park later that afternoon to protest in front of Premier Jean Charest’s office on McGill College Avenue.
The crowd filled the streets, with many students demonstrating peacefully and playing music. But a tense knot of students formed directly outside of the office building, with riot police forming a line blocking the entrance. One student let off a fire extinguisher, while others launched firecrackers at the police and threw paint at the building.
A line of community organizers, some of them students, wore neon vests and formed a line to prevent others from reaching the police, who eventually retreated into the building.
The crowd soon dissipated, with CSU executives taking to Twitter to say they were headed home.
Some protesters flocked to nearby McGill to take part in the growing confrontation at the James Administration building, where several students occupied offices. Police used tear gas, pepper spray and force to push students out of the campus.
Montreal police reported that four people were arrested the day of the protests.
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Not all students took to the streets

There was no line at the Tim Hortons in the Hall building. There were three people to an elevator in the MB. Something was missing at Concordia on Nov. 10, and their absence did not go unnoticed.
Nov. 10 marked the student “Day of Action” organized to show disagreement with rising tuition fees in Quebec. Concordia students took to the streets in protest Thursday, marching in solidarity with students from other Quebec CEGEPs and universities.
Despite the overwhelming support displayed for the strike by the Arts and Science Federation of Associations and Graduate Students’ Association at a joint meeting in the week leading up to the rally, some Concordia students did not share their peers’ enthusiasm.
“I do believe in unions and free speech. I just think it goes against the idea of education that people chose to skip class in protest,” said Fabrizio Pantalone, an undergraduate linguistics student.
Pantalone feels that the ad campaigns launched by various student groups intentionally exaggerated facts to suit their message. “I don’t approve of some of the misinformation being used. The posters saying that Charest paid $500 for university, that’s just not true,” he said, pointing out that in order for that argument to be valid, proper allowances have to be made for inflation.
He said the student activists are using “sensationalist tactics,” and that if they wish to draw more people to their cause, they should do so by being realistic.
A business student, who wished only to be identified as Veronica, feels that some of her classmates don’t realize how good they have it.
“I think we pay the lowest tuition in Canada. I think [the strike is] a little unnecessary. I’m against it,” she said. Veronica said she pays for her own schooling and that she feels that “education is an investment.”
While some students were clearly opposed to the strike, others were unable to miss class. Vinh Ha, a student in Concordia’s accounting program, said he would have liked to attend the strike but couldn’t afford to skip class. “I have a deadline,” he said. He made it clear that he didn’t see the professor being lenient on students who were absent.
Despite Provost David Graham’s recommendation that professors be understanding of students who chose to protest, many students still felt it was not an option for them to miss the time.
“[My professor]’s going to teach anyway and I don’t want to have to catch up,” said Melanie Chabot, a business student.
Eugene Kritchevski, an assistant professor of mathematics, said that he doesn’t expect the protest will produce results. “I don’t think the strike will do anything. If students really want to force change they should refuse to pay their fees,” he said.
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Thoughts on the protest

“I think it’s a good idea to show just how much students are against the increase in tuition, but in the long run I don’t think it will do anything. If tuition does go up, I don’t know if I’ll be able to afford to continue to go to school here. If I do continue after the tuition hike I’ll barely be able to pay.”

– Sara Garden, art history student at Concordia

“The turn out for the protest is amazing! I think this is just the beginning in the fight to freeze tuition. Education is a right and that’s the way it should be. Already, with the current tuition, a lot of students graduate with debt. With the hikes, that debt will just continue to increase. Everyone’s here today to stand up for their rights, there shouldn’t be a limit on who gets education and who doesn’t.”

– Kate Ellis, communications student at Concordia

“I don’t expect things to change the day after today, but I’m here protesting to show solidarity and that we’re all standing up against Charest.”

– Aurélie Chayer, student at Cégep du Vieux Montréal

“I didn’t attend the protest because there was no way I could miss class. I understand it will raise the amount I have to pay but I’m in school to learn and I don’t want this whole manifestation to affect that. I want to do something about it but up to a point there’s nothing I can do apart from conforming to it and I have other priorities.”

– Véronique Sunatori, studio arts student at Concordia

“We’re out here supporting the students. We’re on strike at McGill – we’re part of the support staff – and the students have been out supporting us, and we’re all part of the same community. We don’t think this is fair for the students so we’re showing our support for them.”

–Andrew, McGill University support staff

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We Are All McGill

Over 1,000 concerned and upset members of the McGill community gathered at the James Square Amphitheatre at noon on Monday as part of the “We Are All McGill” movement that spread on Facebook. Renaming the space “Community Square,” emotionally-charged speeches were made by professors and members of McGill’s student political sphere. The demonstration was a response to the presence of riot police on the university’s campus and the resulting violence that took place at last week’s Nov.10 tuition fee hike protests. Photo by Navneet Pall
Over 1,000 concerned and upset members of the McGill community gathered at the James Square Amphitheatre at noon on Monday as part of the “We Are All McGill” movement that spread on Facebook. Renaming the space “Community Square,” emotionally-charged speeches were made by professors and members of McGill’s student political sphere. The demonstration was a response to the presence of riot police on the university’s campus and the resulting violence that took place at last week’s Nov.10 tuition fee hike protests. Photo by Navneet Pall
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Not all students took to the streets on Nov. 10

There was no line at the Tim Hortons in the Hall building. There were three people to an elevator in the MB. Something was missing at Concordia on Nov. 10, and their absence did not go unnoticed.

Nov. 10 marked the student “Day of Action” organized to show disagreement with rising tuition fees in Quebec. Concordia students took to the streets in protest Thursday, marching in solidarity with students from other Quebec CEGEPs and universities.

Despite the overwhelming support displayed for the strike by the Arts and Science Federation of Associations and Graduate Students’ Association at a joint meeting in the week leading up to the rally, some Concordia students did not share their peers’ enthusiasm.

“I do believe in unions and free speech. I just think it goes against the idea of education that people chose to skip class in protest,” said Fabrizio Pantalone, an undergraduate linguistics student.

Pantalone feels that the ad campaigns launched by various student groups intentionally exaggerated facts to suit their message. “I don’t approve of some of the misinformation being used. The posters saying that Charest paid $500 for university, that’s just not true,” he said, pointing out that in order for that argument to be valid, proper allowances have to be made for inflation.

He said the student activists are using “sensationalist tactics,” and that if they wish to draw more people to their cause, they should do so by being realistic.

A business student, who wished only to be identified as Veronica, feels that some of her classmates don’t realize how good they have it.

“I think we pay the lowest tuition in Canada. I think [the strike is] a little unnecessary. I’m against it,” she said. Veronica said she pays for her own schooling and that she feels that “education is an investment.”

While some students were clearly opposed to the strike, others were unable to miss class. Vinh Ha, a student in Concordia’s accounting program, said he would have liked to attend the strike but couldn’t afford to skip class. “I have a deadline,” he said. He made it clear that he didn’t see the professor being lenient on students who were absent.

Despite Provost David Graham’s recommendation that professors be understanding of students who chose to protest, many students still felt it was not an option for them to miss the time.

“[My professor]’s going to teach anyway and I don’t want to have to catch up,” said Melanie Chabot, a business student.

Eugene Kritchevski, an assistant professor of mathematics, said that he doesn’t expect the protest will produce results. “I don’t think the strike will do anything. If students really want to force change they should refuse to pay their fees,” he said.

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Winter of discontent for Quebec students

Over 100,000 post-secondary students in Quebec have a one-day strike mandate to protest tuition fee hikes on Nov. 10, while thousands more will vote on approving one in the next few days.
It’s the latest action by a student movement whose protests have sometimes resulted in the occupation of government offices, and devolved into injuries- and tear gas-laced clashes with riot police.
The fact that students in Quebec are so vociferous about their funding and rights, but yet receive the lowest tuition in Canada, has led some to paint them as ‘reactionary’ and spoiled. This September, Montreal Gazette columnist Henry Aubin went so far as to label students the province’s version of the Tea Party, saying that like the fringe American group, they “see any increases in their financial contributions to government as heinous” and that their demands could weaken society.
The current ire against the government is the result of Finance Minister Raymond Bachand’s promise to raise tuition in Quebec in order to increase funding for universities and help reduce the province’s debt. Starting next fall, tuition will be increased by $325 a year over a five-year period, ending with a total increase of $1,625 by 2017. University administrators have applauded the decision, as they’ve been saying they’re grossly underfunded. But while the total increases, which will add up to just over $4,000 in annual tuition, will likely keep Quebec as one of the two or three provinces with the cheapest tuition, students are still crying foul.
And if this upcoming protest fails to get the attention of Premier Jean Charest and his Education Minister Line Beauchamp, it may come to a general strike in the winter, with more protests and and clashes.
Strikes and union organization have been a constant on the student movement scene in Quebec for decades since the 1960s, when the province’s student union movement began in earnest. As heady post-colonial and anti-war protests were taking place around the world in the ‘60s, students in Quebec were getting more active about issues at home and abroad.
“It was a convergence of international and local factors” that led to the burgeoning student movement, Fred Burrill explained. Burrill, a community organizer and former student leader, wrote about the history of the movement in the ‘60s and ‘70s while an undergraduate at McGill University a few years ago. From the start, he said, students adopted “student syndicalism” from post-war France, where students are empowered to organize like labour unions—with the right to strike, of course.
“But at the same time in Quebec, there was this pretty intense pressure in terms of a burgeoning demographic of people who wanted to go to school, but had no place to go to school,” he added. It was a dearth that left a few thousand people without a spot in class. Students went on strike in 1968, which led to the creation of the Quebec network of universities, which includes best-known example Université du Québec à Montréal, or UQAM, and the first tuition freeze.
As well, 1964 saw the formal founding of the Ministry of Education, creating a need for a formal lobby to meet the minister to advocate for student needs, according to Benoît Lacoursière, a former student activist and member of the founding executive of the Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ).
Lacoursière, now a teacher of political science at Collège de Maisonneuve, says that the Quiet Revolution, or la Révolution tranquille, explains a lot about the mobilization in the student movement. In a huge cultural shift and democratic awakening of sorts, the Catholic Church’s long hold on power in the province diminished, and a secular education system became a hallmark of the new Quebec.
In 1967, the CEGEP system was founded, adding another tier to post-secondary education. High school graduates enroll in vocational and pre-university programs for two to three years, and today, pay little more than $100 a semester on tuition, not including books and supplies. According to Roxanne Dubois, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, CEGEPs give students a taste of more affordable education—something they’ll want to fight for.
“Many will have an interest in pursuing university, and when you have a situation like now, where you have tuition fees increasing in Quebec,” she said, “then you will obviously have a base of students that have the ability to organize and be activists in discerning access to public education.”
While the movement has seen breakthroughs, it’s had weaker moments as unions came and went. “Like student populations, there’s some waxing and waning. Organizations are born, radicalized, get a bit entrenched, get a little bureaucratic and then die,” said Burrill.
There have been a couple of different bodies representing students over the years: the Union générale des étudiants du Québec, Association nationale des étudiants du Québec, and today, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, and its CEGEP sibling, Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec. Today, in addition to FEUQ and FECQ, there’s ASSÉ, a more radical member organization founded during a quieter period in 2001.
The three illustrate a division between student groups, noted Burrill. Groups tend to split into either the more militant camp, like ASSÉ, or lobbyist groups, like FEUQ and FECQ. The latter tend to be recognized by the government when it comes to negotiations, which has caused tensions between groups who should be united for the same cause.
ASSÉ was shut out of the government negotiations during the 2005 general strike, but the groups are striking a more harmonious stance today. “We don’t want a repeat of 2005, which is why we’ve proposed to other organizations that we sign an agreement that promises that we won’t have a similar division,” said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, spokesperson for ASSÉ.
Despite the tension in 2005, the general strike proved mostly successful. Students rallied when the current government tried to transfer $100 million worth of bursaries and grants into loans. Over 200,000 students went on strike, taking over university buildings and eventually blockading the Port of Montreal. The government backed down, and a tuition freeze was put in place.
It’s likely, said Lacoursière, that some of the masterminds of 2005 will be around to help today’s student organizers, who are continuing to pursue individual union strike mandates this week. But whether 2011 will be a repeat of 2005, and be enough to change the government’s mind, win public support and fully rally nearly 200,000 Quebec students, has yet to be seen.
 
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Students vote to strike on Nov. 10

Students filled the Hall building auditorium, raising their hands to vote in favour of striking on Nov. 10.
Students filled the Hall building auditorium, raising their hands to vote in favour of striking on Nov. 10.

Graduate students and arts and science undergraduates voted in favour of an academic strike mandate for Nov. 10, the day of the province-wide protest against tuition hikes, at a special general meeting held last Thursday.
Out of the 570 students present at the SGM, six undergraduate and two graduate students voted against the mandate and one student abstained, according to ASFA’s records.
“This is our opportunity as Concordia students and as an English school in Montreal to show that we have a school spirit strong enough to stand together united with one message,” said Concordia Student Union VP external and projects Chad Walcott. “That message is ‘no’ to this tuition increase.”
ASFA VP external and sustainability Paul Jerajian called the meeting’s outcome “a major step for ASFA.”
The CSU organized the SGM along with ASFA and the Graduate Students’ Association.
There were no faculty or administrative representatives at the meeting and the strike mandate as it currently stands does not exclude the possibility of academic consequences for strikers. According to Jerajian, a motion which states the meeting’s result still needs to be approved by the faculty in order to have a clear academic amnesty. Walcott said that the CSU is sending the SGM result to the administration to inform them of the ASFA strike mandate. Meanwhile, Provost David Graham sent out a recommendation to faculties and departments to be lenient on Nov. 10 in matters of attendance and late assignments, Walcott said.
“A strike mandate from ASFA’s membership means that 18,000 students have democratically decided not to go to school and to support the action on Nov. 10,” said CSU president Lex Gill. “If the university tries to go against the motion and punish students for not going to class on that day they are putting themselves in a very bad position.”
ASFA and the GSA needed to meet quorum—a minimum of 371 undergraduate students and 60 graduate students, respectively—in order to obtain a legal vote. When quorum was met an hour after the meeting started, students voted to skip the information presentation on tuition hikes and to vote for a strike mandate straightaway. They also skipped the open microphone session in the process, a decision which left some students unable to voice their opinions.
“We are both against the mandate and we wanted to speak before the vote,” said Erik Scanlon, and Philip Ryan-Gyroux, two economics students. “They never actually opened the microphone for people who disagree with the mandate. This is unacceptable in a so-called democratic process.”
If the Nov. 10 protest does not meet the expected results, students could meet again to vote for an unlimited general strike, where students would strike continuously until demands are met or until students decide to stop striking. 

A march to join the 2 p.m. general rally at Place Émilie-Gamelin near Berri-UQAM metro station will leave the Reggie’s terrace at 1:10 p.m., and will pass by McGill University. The CSU is organizing a pre-gathering downtown from 11 a.m. onwards on the terrace. The student union has also arranged for buses to pick up students from the Loyola campus at 12:30 p.m. and bring them to Reggie’s to join the rest of the delegation

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Accessible education is dead; Long live accessible education

It seems that even the undead are opposed to tuition fee hikes in Quebec.
The Concordia Student Union and the Fédération des associations étudiantes du campus de l’Université de Montréal teamed up on Halloween for a double dose of protest in front of Premier Jean Charest’s Montreal office and home.
Covered in fake blood and wrapped up in toiler paper bandages, students taking part in the CSU-led march moaned and groaned their way along Ste-Catherine St., making their way from the Reggie’s terrace to Charest’s office on McGill College Avenue.
Carrying Jack-o’-lanterns, lit candles and plastic flowers, around 40 protesters led a funeral procession for “the death of accessible education.” Student Alex Matak led the “service” through a speaker system, encouraging passersby to “weep and cry and wail for education tonight.”
While mainly keeping to the sidewalk, protesters took a quick vote and decided to march on the road for one block on Ste-Catherine between Crescent St. and de la Montagne St. The procession then turned onto McGill College, ending at Charest’s office where the mention of his name incited wails of “Shame!” and “Murderer!” Matak then invited protesters to “close [their] eyes and bow [their] heads” in a moment of silence.
Several of the “mourners” were prompted to take the microphone and speak. “I wish I could eat their brains,” joked councillor Kyle McLoughlin when the zombie-protesters called out for the brains of Charest and his cabinet. “Maybe then I could get an education.”
The protesters left behind their lighted candles and pumpkins, which were snuffed out by security soon after, as well as a coffin with the words “See you in 10 days” painted on it in red.
Meanwhile, a similar demonstration organized by the FAÉCUM marched to Jean Charest’s house in Westmount to drop off a coffin representing the death of accessible education on his lawn. Around 120 students participated in the demonstration, according to FAÉCUM press attaché Alexandre Ducharme.
The protests were staged in a lead-up to a massive, inter-university demonstration scheduled for Nov. 10. That demonstration is part of the “$1,625 more won’t pass!” movement which kicked off at the the beginning of the semester. The movement is intended to voice students’ disagreement with the provincial government’s decision to up tuition for Quebec students by $325 per year over the next five years.
In preparation for Nov. 10, the Arts and Science Federation of Associations and the CSU have organized a special general meeting on Nov. 3 to ask students to approve a one-day strike mandate.
Since the SGM is the result of a motion passed by ASFA council at their October meeting,
if passed, the strike mandate will only officially affect ASFA students, according to CSU VP external Chad Walcott.
“I think it would send a very strong message that arts and science students are aware of and against student increases,” he said. “I think it will act as an incentive for students to be out on the Nov. 10 in the streets with us and the rest of the student movement.”
Lisa Raffy, a French international student studying political science at Concordia, said she supports the strike mandate. “In France, we strike all the time,” said Raffy, describing it as the most effective way to institute change.
In the event that the SGM does not meet quorum or that the students vote down the mandate, the student union has been working with university administration and faculty members to grant an informal academic amnesty day to students who do not show up for class on Nov. 10.

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ASFA steps it up in fight against tuition

The Arts and Science Federation of Associations has stepped up its involvement in its fight against tuition after passing a two-part motion at its Oct. 13 council meeting.

The motion, put forward by Charlie Brenchley, the community outreach coordinator for the School of Community and Public Affairs Student Association, stipulates that ASFA will support the tuition fee campaign the CSU is waging and will hold a special general assembly sometime in the week before the Nov. 10 mass student demonstration against tuition hikes. The assembly will inform and mobilize students about the event and how they can best participate in it.

CSU VP external Chad Walcott made a presentation prior to the motions where he discussed the student union’s campaign against tuition increases, including last September’s demonstration when over 1,000 red balloons were released in the Hall building. CSU president Lex Gill also attended the council meeting to speak on the subject.

“Personally, I think Chad is doing an amazing job with the tuition fight, and I didn’t put forth this motion, but I really support it,” said ASFA president Alex Gordon. “I think that it’s a great way to help mobilize arts and science students, and get them fully backing the CSU and the school as a whole […] when it comes to fighting tuition. So I’m all for it.”

While a date for the SGM has not yet been set, once the decision is made students will be able to find more details on ASFA’s website and on Facebook, as well as through student associations.

Member association budgets were not presented at the meeting because ASFA’s fee levy funds were only received the morning of the meeting. The budgets will be voted on at a special council meeting this Thursday.

The next regular ASFA council meeting takes place on Nov. 10.

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Montreal students warm up for Nov. 10

Student protesters came decked out in face paint, carrying picket signs and scrawling messages on the streets and sidewalks in chalk.
Student protesters came decked out in face paint, carrying picket signs and scrawling messages on the streets and sidewalks in chalk. Photo by Navneet Pall

More than 300 students gathered in front of Minister of Education Line Beauchamp’s Montreal office on Oct. 6 in preparation for the massive rally against tuition hikes set to take place in the city on Nov. 10.
The rally was assembled by the Coalition régionale étudiante de Montréal, a group that includes most Montreal universities and CEGEPs. The protestors planned the event to remind Beauchamp that the battle against tuition hikes, announced last March by Finance Minister Raymond Bachand, is still alive and growing.
“This is just a warm-up,” said protest organizer and Concordia Student Union VP external affairs, Chad Walcott. “The student movement here is strong and is not standing down. It’s going to be a matter of continuous outreach in Concordia as well. We’re gathering signatures and raising awareness as much as possible toward November 10.”
Walcott heads the Mob Squad, a CSU-organized group which has given itself the mandate of staging protests and demonstrations against tuition hikes. The squad was behind the release of 1,000 red balloons in the Hall building on Sept. 28, where each balloon represented 30 students who will not be able to afford to go to university if tuition fees are increased.
“These people are only the organizers,” said CSU president Lex Gill, referring to those protesting around her. “We’ve all got friends.”
Tuition will rise by $325 a year for the next five years, for a total of $1,625. Although Quebec would still remain the Canadian province with the lowest fees, the Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques predicts that this increase could prevent more than 30,000 students from accessing university-level education
“I’m already struggling with rent, school and the rest,” said Erica Deutschman, a Concordia communications studies student present at the rally. “This is a real problem for me.”
During the protest, speakers from various schools took the microphone to shout their own personal message to Beauchamp in French and English.
“The French media will focus on French schools but the English media today is not involved in the debate at all,” said Walcott. “It’s going to be our responsibility as well as Dawson’s and McGill’s to make sure the English media starts talking about [tuition] a lot more. Ultimately, we need public opinion on our side to win this battle and without the media talking about this, it’s going to be hard to get.”
Student union representatives are hoping that this protest movement will not only block the hike but also, through this “common battle”, empower students and create a stronger sense of community within Concordia.
“I believe that if we could gather 5,000 Concordia students for November 10, it would have a massive impact and be a huge accomplishment towards a stronger school spirit at Concordia,” said Walcott.

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