Learning in Social Action: Students of Color and the Québec Student Movement

Organized pressure tactics, including student strikes, have led to access to higher education for working class Francophone students through the creation of the Québec University network; improvements to the loans and bursaries system; the cancellation of planned tuition hikes, and a decade-long tuition freeze from 1996 to 2007 (ASSÉ, 2012; Ayotte-Thomson & Freeman, 2012; Brett, 2012; CLASSE, 2012; Mills, 2010). Foreshadowing the Québec Spring that was to come, student protesters from the demonstration flooded onto McGill's downtown campus in solidarity, followed closely by baton and chemical weapon wielding riot police who would clear the campus using indiscriminate and excessive violence (McGill Faculty Labour Action Group, 2011).