MONTREAL—On Feb. 23, some 10,000 students marched in the streets here to protest increased tuition fees. During the march students chanted, “We want to study, we don’t want to go in debt” and “We are students not clients.” The Quebec government is planning to increase annual fees, which are presently $2,168, to $3,793 by 2016.

At the present time there are 54,000 students on strike against the fee hike and some 90,000 other students will be voting whether to join them over the next two weeks. Another march is planned in Quebec City on March 1 and a big Quebec-wide mobilization will take place in Montreal on March 22.

“Everyone has a right to education and it has to be accessible to everyone,” Gabriel Gagnon, who attends Vieux Montreal pre-university public college, told the Militant. “The government is making it a privilege and not a right.”

“My education is paid for by my parents but I feel it’s important to support the other students in this fight,” said Bruno Tousignant from Concordia University.

—JOE YOUNG