Student rally calls on government to reduce tuition, commercialization

The Canadian Federation of Students’ Drop Fees Campaign called on students across Canada and in more than 20 other countries to assemble on their campuses to tell governments to reduce university tuition rates on Nov. 5, called the Day of Action Against Commercialization by CFS.

Between 300 and 400 students gathered on the steps of the U of M Administration building at 11:30 a.m. at the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry campus before heading to the Legislature, chanting phrases like, “We don’t want no mac n’ cheese, come on Doer, drop the fees.”

Students held signs, most of which had CFS logos on them, in English and French calling for better access for aboriginal students, as well as calling for tuition fees to be dropped for all post-secondary students.

International students attending U of M, frustrated with having to pay more for tuition, wanted the government to extend the tuition fee freeze, and have it apply to all students studying in Manitoba.

Joseph Kolunga, an international student studying science, said he believes that it’s unfair to say that Canadian students have subsidize their education through taxes, whereas other students have not. “I’m an international student, I’m working [a] part-time job, I’m paying the same taxes that everyone is paying. [ . . . ] I’m contributing to this society as much as everyone else.”

Science student Melanie Soshycki said that while she was not joining in the rally, she supports the idea of accessible education. “I think education should be free so that it can unite people.”

Denby McLean, an Arts student at the U of M, said that she thought “there [are] probably more productive ways to go about it,” when asked if she thought the rally would bring about lasting change for students.

Geophysics student Troy Unrau staged a one-man counter-rally in front of University Centre. His signs included such slogans as “Education is an investment, not a right,” and “All these looters can go to the U of W. Make my U of M elite!”

He said he was "only half joking with the sign." He cited students in Engineering and Law, "elite" faculties, that have voted to increase their tuition.

Unrau said that students argue for “free education, free access to education, but we’re getting free crappy education.” He said that students who have the drive for an education will find the money to fund it.

Unrau pointed out the signs calling for better access to post-secondary education for aboriginal students by saying that “It’s not a funding problem, it’s a motivational problem, it’s a cultural problem.”

He said that despite First Nations bands funding many students to enroll in university, "There's so many students that don't want to go do school among the aboriginal community, and they simply don't have the motivation — if there was a cultural shift, to say that education is important to the people growing up in those communities, then it wouldn't be an issue."

UMSU president Jonny Sopotiuk dismissed comments like the ones made by Unrau and other commentators as “offensive, and completely racist, and not based on fact.” He went on to say that “The last study that the Assembly of Chiefs in Canada did showed that there’s an estimated 10,000 First Nations students living on reserve, so that’s not including non-status and Métis students living off reserve, [ . . . ] who want to come to university, so who have applied and expressed interest and are not able to come because they don’t have the funding.”

At 1 p.m., approximately 1,000 students from the universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba, as well as Collège St. Boniface and several high schools stood in front of the main steps of the Legislature, hearing representatives from CFS, the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association, and UMSU speak before bringing out the minister of education, Peter Bjornson.

Bjornson described Manitoba as having some of the lowest tuition fees in Canada, to which students booed and yelled “not for long!” before two students carrying a giant banner calling Gary Doer a liar stood on the steps in front of Bjornson.

After the rally, some students started a sit-in in the Legislature, saying that they wanted to talk to officials about making post-secondary education more accessible to aboriginal students. The Legislature immediately went into security lockdown because of the peaceful demonstration, with more than 20 students (including a baby) inside. Anyone else associated with the rally who was inside the front foyer of the Legislature was forcibly removed, including Sopotiuk and the Manitoban staffer sent to cover the rally, while other media, such as the CBC and Global Television were allowed inside.

When asked to comment on this, Sopotiuk said that students who were inside the Legislature were asking to speak with him, and he told this to the Legislature’s security guards, as he identified himself and his position in UMSU. “[Security] stated that I was one of the protestors, that I was not allowed to enter the building. I asked [ . . . ] to speak with an MLA before I left, and that’s when [security] forcibly removed myself and two other students who were peacefully standing in the doorway, and physically pushed us outside the doorway.”

Sopotiuk said that a formal complaint will be made, regarding how students and the public were treated.

The people sitting inside the Legislature did get an opportunity to speak with Education Minister Peter Bjornson about educational barriers for aboriginal students, and talks went on for approximately two hours, well after 4 p.m.