MONTREAL—“On veut étudier, on veut pas s’endetter” (We want to study, we don’t want to run up debts) was the chant of several hundred students here February 17. Carrying desks and chairs, they briefly set up classroom formations at intersections to illustrate their desire to study as they marched through downtown Montreal heading for the offices of the provincial government ministry in charge of education. Junior college (CEGEP) students joined university students in the streets.

The previous week, the government minister had announced her plans to increase the rate at which tuition fees are being raised, beginning in 2012. Between 2007 and 2012, a year’s university tuition will have gone from Can$1,668 to Can$2,168. Tuition fees in Quebec are qualitatively lower than elsewhere in Canada, due to regular student mobilizations protesting hikes over the past decades.

Marcher Jean-François Filiatrault said, “It’s important to react quickly against a hike in tuition fees.” Another student, Justine Lamarre, told the Militant, “We’re against an elitist society and education system.” Both attend the University of Quebec in Montreal.

—KATY LE ROUGETEL