The Dominion interviews Sophie Schoen of L'Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ) about the history of student union organizing in Quebec:
Waves of student protest have swept Quebec in recent years. In 2005 a major strike galvanized students across Quebec, with over one-hundred student unions participating at the height of a strike rooted in a demand for free post-secondary education in Quebec.Read on . . .
Major currents within Quebec’s student movement draw direct parallels between the struggle for accessible and free education in Quebec to larger movements for social justice in the Americas. From campaigns combating poverty, to fights for labor rights, in recent years Quebec students have woven profound connections between campus based struggles for equity and broader social movements.
In 2007 Quebec’s Liberal government announced a protracted hike in tuition fees across Quebec for the first time since the late 1990’s. In response L'Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ), one of Quebec’s strongest student unions with 42,000-members, held a series of protests to continue the campaign for free education in Quebec. Thousands took the streets in Montreal in mid-November, while multiple student associations held strikes at Cégep and university campuses.
Sophie Schoen is a community organizer and activist with L'Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ). Stefan Christoff spoke with Schoen on the history of Quebec’s powerful student movement and the recent mobilizations against rising tuition fees.
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