Canada’s education system is in a crisis of rising fees, skyrocketing student debt and increased privatization. The average Canadian student owes $28,000 in student debt at graduation. This high upfront cost of education is increasingly a barrier for middle and working class learners, with 60 per cent of Canada’s post-secondary students today coming from the two highest income brackets. Thousands of Indigenous learners are denied support every year due to a funding shortfall of the Post-Secondary Student Support Program and the failure of successive governments in committing adequate funding. Post-secondary institutions are relying ever more heavily on precariously employed sessional instructors.
In response to this crisis in post-secondary education, the Canadian Federation of Students is mobilizing a National Day of Action November 2nd to protest high tuitions and the increasing privatization of post-secondary institutions.
The Ontario Federation of Labour endorses the National Student Day of Action on November 2, and encourages all Ontarians to show their support for the students who are fighting for a national, universal, tuition-free system of post-secondary education for all Canadians.
“The erosion of public funding has led reduced programming at universities and colleges, and an increasing reliance on precarious workers,” said OFL Vice-President Ahmad Gaied. “As a labour movement we need to fight barriers to education and the rise in precarious work among instructors in post-secondary institutions.”
The labour movement fought for and won free education from kindergarten to grade 12, and the OFL supports the extension of free education to include post-secondary education as well.
OFL encourages you to join us in solidarity with the Canadian Federation of Students, who represent 650, 000 students across Canada.
Protests are happening across Canada. For a listing of where you can participate click here.
Cope343
