The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) held simultaneous demonstrations protesting the latest round of tuition hikes on Thursday in four cities across Ontario, including Toronto, Guelph, and London, with Sudbury students joining in on Friday.
Protestors complained that recent tuition hikes across the province have led to the highest student debt in the history of Ontario-43 per cent of post-secondary students in Ontario owe money thanks to increased tuition.
In Toronto, the demonstration took place at the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities on the corner of Bay and Wellesley, and drew just over 100 protesters. They chanted slogans like “Hey, hey, ho, ho, tuition hikes have got to go,” and “Tuition hikes? No thanks! It’s time to tax the banks.”
Harshdeep Sabharwal of George Brown College said that the current teacher strike affecting Ontario’s colleges is what drew him to the protest.
“We international students pay three times as much in tuition as Canadian students,” he said. “My visa is set to expire later on this year, and if the strike doesn’t end, not only do I have to reapply for a visa, but I also have to pay new tuition fees for next year, too.”
CFS organizer Joel Duff explained that the students were “demonstrating to show the government that they’re out of step with the majority of voters.
“Over 90 per cent of Ontario [students] think that tuition should be frozen or reduced.”
According to Duff, average student debt has more than quadrupled since the mid-’90s to its current level of $25,000, and is set to rise to $30,000 by the end of the decade.
“What we want is an extension of the tuition freeze,” said SAC’s James Wardlaw. “Manitoba announced an eight-year tuition freeze and Quebec has had a tuition freeze for 30 of the last 35 years.”
“It’s ridiculous,” said Duff. “At least [the Harris government] capped the tuition increase at two per cent a year. The Liberals are allowing tuition to rise at five per cent a year. People can’t afford it.”
