Strike comes as a last option, when we are sure that the government is unwilling to negotiate and when every other strategy has failed. That is the present situation in relation to the 2012 tuition increase. Indeed, many strategies have been tried over the last year.
To get all the information on Why Should We Strike, click here. Or you can look below to see some of the highlights of the current campaign, leading us to this point.
April 1st, 2010
After the first announcement of a tuition increase, a major demonstration is held in Montreal by the newly formed Coalition Against Fees and Privatization in Public Services. Many student unions participate and twelve thousand people take the streets.
September 24, 2010
Fifty people from l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ), a national student union in Quebec, occupy the Minister of Education’s office in Montreal. Line Beauchamp, the Minister of Education, Sports and Leisure herself, is present, and the students ask her directly to stop further tuition increase if the government wants to avoid facing a massive student mobilization. The minister does not respond to student demands.
November 23, 2010
The Coalition Against Fees and Privatization in Public Services organizes a national day of action. Many actions take place across the Province. In Montreal, for example, a thousand demonstrators blockade Hydro-Quebec’s headquarters. Twenty-five thousand students embark on a one- to three-day strike for the occasion.
November 25, 2010
A national day of reflection on the future of universities is held in Montreal. Many national student and teacher unions hold conferences, and the “Manifesto of Quebec universities: for free, accessible, democratic and public universities” is released, a concrete alternative project for post-secondary education.
December 6, 2010
The Ministry of Education holds a consultation in Quebec with the academic community, but also with corporate leaders (they represent 2/3 of guests). Yet the meeting is not meant to discuss whether or not there will be a tuition increase, but rather the scale of the increase. Therefore, the meeting’s main purpose is to legitimize the increase. All national student unions boycott the meeting by refusing to show up or by leaving it. Sixty thousand students are on strike that day and four thousand people demonstrate in front of the meeting.
February 10, 2011
A demonstration is held in Montreal. A few hundred people participate and protest in front of Quebecor’s headquarters, a company that defended the tuition increase in its newspapers.
February 14, 2011
Students vote for a day of strike at Concordia Student Union (CSU) and Graduate Students Association (GSA) of Concordia’s general assemblies to protest against the tuition hikes.
March 7, 2011
During morning rush hour, eight banners with messages against tuition increases are dropped from the bridges leading into the city.
March 12, 2011
A huge demonstration against fees in public services is held in Montreal. Twelve thousand people from around Quebec are present.
March 17, 2011
Quebec’s budget announcing the scale of the tuition increase is released.
March 24, 2011
80 students occupy The Minister of Finance’s offices in Montreal.
March 31, 2011
A national demonstration is held in Montreal against tuition increases. Sixty thousand students are on strike that day and four thousand people take to the streets. Thirty people occupy CRÉPUQ (the Conference of Quebec University Principals)’s offices.
March 20, 27 and April 3, 2011
On March 20th, members of the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) disrupt the Young Liberals’ (Québec) Congress . For the following two weekends, during two Liberal Party conferences, FECQ along with the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) lead a protest outside with 150 CEGEP and university students.
November 10, 2011
More than 200,000 students are on strike (including Art & Science undergraduate Students and Graduate Students in Concordia!) and 30 000 take the streets of Montreal. It is the largest student protest since the 2005 strike
This timeline clearly shows that many actions have been taken against the government’s plan to raise tuition. The frequency and intensity of these actions will only grow over the next year. Despite this opposition, the Charest government is still moving forward with tuition increases. In this context, our most effective weapon and our only chance to get the government to retreat is the Unlimited General Strike.
Other Resources
Research documents from various sources!
Free Education Montreal’s Library page has a rich collection. Check it out at
Commodification of Education: A thoroughly researched presentation on how education is becoming more and more a commodity that richer can afford more than the not so rich people.
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