Post-secondary students took to the streets on February 17 to protest statements by the Quebec Minister of Education, Michelle Courchesne, indicating that heightened tuition rates are in the offing.

Courchesne ignited the fury of students by saying that tuition hikes may soon go beyond the $50 per semester increases that students are paying until 2012.

In an interview with the Montreal newspaper La Presse, she said that a "consensus" is emerging in favour of the de-freeze in Quebec.

"When I speak of consensus, I exclude students," she remarked. "But ... more and more, the importance of increasing tuition rates is becoming apparent."

Students soon organized demonstrations opposing the Minister's statements at universities including McGill, Concordia and the Université de Québec à Montréal.  

Less than a week later, a group of high-profile public figures declared themselves in favour of the deregulation of tuition. The sixteen signatories of their "pact" included ex-Premier Lucien Bouchard, and the ex-president of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, among others.

While the pressure to de-freeze tuition is quickly rising, students are simultaneously facing a host of other issues, ranging from the environmental sustainability of campuses to the deregulation of military-funded research. 
How effectively are major student organizations responding to their concerns? 

The latter question will guide my writing over the next few weeks as I conduct research for the Quebec branch of the CFS.

On this blog, I will post a series of reports that will attempt to identify key issues concerning students in Canada, and especially in Montreal, where I am based.

These reports will also aim to assess how effectively major student organizations are responding to the concerns of students.

I encourage readers to leave comments on this blog or to email me at davidgkoch (at) gmail.com.