Quebec: students protest at higher education summit

A two-day summit into higher education has been met with student protests in Quebec, Canada. The summit is currently underway at the Arsenal art gallery, in Griffintown.

In accordance with a 4 February ultimatum to the education minister Pierre Duchesne, the student federation Association pour une solidarité syndical étudiante (ASSÉ) - which represents approximately 70,000 Quebec students - will not attend the summit, and is hosting a protest against student fee increases. ASSÉ decided to boycott the summit after their ultimatums to Duchesne were not met.

The federation’s website says, “six months ago, we blocked the tuition fee hike. Today we’re defending what we won in the strike.”

The summit discussion revolves around four main issues: the quality of education and university governance, research and collaboration between schools and communities, funding of education and, accessibility. A number of summit participants have complained about a lack of communication from the government in the lead up to the summit

Several instances of vandalism were reported before the summit began on Monday morning, including at the offices of minister Duchesne and former student leader turned Parti Québécois MNA Léo Bureau-Blouin. (NewsPoint)