From March 11 to 15, over 28,000 students from McGill and Concordia went on strike against the tuition increases proposed by the Quebec government. Representing nearly 96 per cent of those on strike, Concordia students led the charge, mobilizing hundreds in a demonstration on March 13 and picketing classes throughout the week. 

The tuition hikes, first proposed in Oct. 2023, brought tuition from $9,000 to $17,000 per year for out-of-province students attending one of Quebec’s three English-language universities. However, on Dec. 14, the provincial government revised its decision and announced that tuition will instead be increased to $12,000 per year with the additional requirement that 80 per cent of out-of-province and international students attain an intermediate level of French over the course of their studies. Although international students’ tuition will not be drastically affected, the Quebec government has imposed a minimum tuition fee of $20,000 per year and will claim a larger proportion of their fees going forward. The funds raised through the tuition hikes will be directed toward francophone universities in the province to address the disequilibrium in funding between them and anglophone universities. 

In the last few months, students have mobilized in response to these proposed changes. In the weeks leading up to the latest strike, six departmental student associations at McGill held general assemblies to vote on a strike motion. The Society of Undergraduate Mathematics Students and McGill Environment Students’ Society did not reach quorum. Of the associations that met quorum, the Department of English Student Association (DESA) and the McGill Biology Student Union (MBSU) voted in favour of a strike. Additionally, the McGill Undergraduate Geography Society and Music Undergraduate Students’ Association voted to strike if a minimum of 2,500 McGill students participated. These organizations did not go through with the strike as 1,195 McGill students ultimately joined the strike efforts. Both the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and the Concordia Student Union (CSU) have a mandate to support student activism on campus and have been working with strikers. 

At the March 13 demonstration, students voiced concerns over how the new tuition policies will affect McGill’s student demographic. 

“I personally voted to strike because I’m very concerned about the impact that [the new tuition model] will have on the cultural fabric of McGill,” Nick Chow, MBSU Vice-President (VP) External, said to The Tribune. “I think that this will lead to McGill students becoming much wealthier on average and less diverse. And part of what makes McGill so fantastic is its incredible diversity of people from all around the world.”

Seyla Wickramasinghe, a U2 Representative for MBSU, added that the Quebec government’s justification for the new tuition policies seems not only discriminatory but logically inconsistent, given that only French and Belgian students are exempt from the new tuition model.

“I speak fluent French, and so does my brother because we grew up learning French in Ontario. But you don’t see that included or reflected in the tuition hikes. It’s like they forgot about every other province […] and every other country that speaks French,” Wickramasinghe said. 

At a town hall meeting organized by the university on March 14, Provost Christopher Manfredi expressed similar apprehension. 

“One of our biggest concerns is the impact that those changes might have on McGill’s DNA,” Manfredi said. “But I think [it’s a] challenge that we can meet.”

According to McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle, the university saw a seven per cent reduction in international applications and 22 per cent reduction in out-of-province applications this year compared to last year. 

However, in his town hall presentation, Manfredi assured attendees that the university would work to protect McGill’s diversity by trying to maintain the same ratio of Quebecois students, out-of-province students, and international students as in past years. Moreover, he highlighted that McGill has created the Canada Award to offset the costs of tuition hikes for incoming out-of-province students in most programs. 

In addition to potential impacts on the student demographic, Manfredi underlined that the new tuition model will have significant consequences for McGill’s finances. Even with the cuts the university plans to make to its operating budget, Manfredi revealed that McGill expects to be in a budget deficit for the upcoming year. 

“We simply cannot compress quickly enough without doing significant damage to our ability to deliver on our mission,” Manfredi stated. 

On Feb. 23, McGill and Concordia filed separate lawsuits that contest the new tuition policies.  Although the university does not dispute the government’s francization targets, McGill’s legal challenge argues that the tuition increases for out-of-province students and the change to the funding model for international students constitute discrimination according to both the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. McGill has asked that the two measures be suspended while the court considers the case.

Although McGill’s lawsuit and the student strike aim to achieve the same goal, Mazerolle told The Tribune that McGill will not take a position on last week’s strike.

“The University does not and will not take a position on the cause on which students might decide not to attend classes because of civic engagement from time-to-time,” Mazerolle wrote. 

President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini warned students against using hard picketing tactics and blocking entry to university buildings after a pro-Palestinian protest closed access to the Bronfman building on Feb. 22.

“The University’s protocol for dealing with protest-related disruptions and misconduct, where non-violent, calls first for efforts to de-escalate the situation through a dialogue between a university official and the protesters […] if protesters or demonstrators refuse to allow university activities to continue, the University will not hesitate to call on civil authorities to take action as they deem appropriate,” Saini wrote in the email to the McGill community. 

Both DESA and MBSU ultimately implemented a soft picketing strategy, encouraging students to picket their classes without blocking entry to buildings. Vikram Nathan, President of MBSU, explained that the association chose not to picket graded labs or classes that were unavailable online in order to minimize academic repercussions for students. 

“Our intention wasn’t to sabotage anyone’s learning,” Nathan said. 

Most student associations at Concordia took a different approach, choosing to block entry to classes in order to create as much disruption as possible. Hannah Jackson, the External Affairs and Mobilization Coordinator for the CSU, defended students’ decision to implement a hard picket. 

“In my personal opinion, there’s no such thing as soft picketing. If you’re not blocking a class, you’re just doing a demonstration,” Jackson said. “I’m encouraging people to be a little bit braver than they want to be [….] If no one goes to class, or no one crosses the picket line, then there’s no way that a professor can issue an academic penalty.”

Daniel Gonzalez, one of the organizers of the strike at Concordia, added that hard pickets are more effective at garnering attention and that this difference in tactics may help explain Concordia’s ability to effectively mobilize. 

SSMU VP External Liam Gaither noted that Concordia’s history of political activism may explain why there was more support for the strike at Concordia compared to McGill. 

“We don’t have the same strike culture that has been built up over decades of student mobilization in contrast to campuses like UQAM and Concordia […] and it’s hard to mobilize people for a strike when they’ve never heard of it or done it before,” Gaither said. “The strike is like any other muscle, we need to exercise it in order to strengthen it.”

Similarly, Chow questioned if continued strikes were worthwhile at McGill. 

“I think for there to be real change and a sustained strike, there needs to be more support from both the administration and from other departments. Biology and English can’t do it alone,” Chow said. 

Natasha Kinne, Co-President of DESA, said that her association is considering further strike initiatives but is also preparing to pursue other forms of activism. For example, DESA is planning to write an open letter with faculty condemning the tuition hikes. 

Concordia organizers, however, said they planned to double down on strike initiatives and urged students to join them. Gonzalez told The Tribune that he was optimistic that the student strikes would eventually be successful. 

“I think it’s really impressive that we managed to get so much mobilization happening in just five months,” Gonzalez said. “I can’t wait to see where this movement goes from here.”