By Maxwell Heroux & Maheeshan Sivanesan
O
n February 12, the Ontario government announced it will cut OSAP grants and end the domestic tuition freeze starting this fall. This would drop the maximum available grants for a student to 25 per cent while at least 75 per cent of support will be delivered as loans. Tuition would also be allowed to increase by up to 2 per cent per year after the freeze put in place in 2019 is lifted.
The announcement sparked responses across Ottawa and the province, where students say post-secondary education will be harder to access and sustain due to more debt and an increasingly difficult job market. Students have since organized province-wide rallies that took place on March 4 and March 24 and a rally on March 18 at Carleton University.
Student Concerns
Students expressed deep concerns spiraling from a lack of access to education, now and in the future, should these cuts remain in place.
Emma Bieler, a 2nd year Honours Political Science student at the University of Ottawa highlights the job prospects of students compared with the cost of education, saying, “With the current state of the job market, this will only deter people from going into post-secondary, because people don’t want debt, they want to survive.”
She further emphasized her own experience with OSAP.
“I’m only 19, and I’m already over $20,000 in OSAP debt. That number has always been scary, but knowing it could increase even more because of these changes makes me genuinely worried about how I’ll manage after graduation,” Bieler said.
“It is going to mean greater debt, greater financial uncertainty, and even some people choosing not to attend post-secondary at all, because they don’t see a way to afford it.” Chandra Pasma, MPP (Ottawa West—Nepean)
Kendall Clarke, a second-year Public Affairs and Policy Management student working two part-time jobs, and co-president of the Carleton University New Democrats (CUND), also explained the effects these cuts would have on her.
“If the cost of tuition increases and OSAP grants decrease, it would mean that I would likely have to increase my work hours, but I worry it might affect my academics, which I need to keep my scholarships,” she said.
Mateo Mendes Yepes, a first-year CUND representative, described what he called a “cycle of decay.”
“We can’t get hired because we don’t have experience and we don’t have experience because we don’t have money,” he explained.
Even students nearing the end of their programs are feeling the effects. Oluwanifemi Boamah, a third-year Global and International Studies student and Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) councillor and External Affairs Committee Chair, said, “I have one more year. And before that, I have to fulfill my international requirement by going to London. Coming back, I’m going to need the OSAP to get back on my feet nicely to start the new school year. It will affect the type of decisions that I make financially during that school year.”
James Adair, a fifth-year Public Administration and Political Science student and co-president of the University of Ottawa NDP (UONDP) who relies on OSAP grants, added that the policy attacks working class access: “This is going to hurt working class communities… fewer working class doctors, lawyers, engineers, nurses, physicists.”
For some people, especially those with disabilities, the OSAP cuts affect their lives more severely.
Jay Baldwin, a fourth-year Carleton student in Women and Gender Studies with double minors in Critical Race Studies and Disability Studies, is starting their Masters in the Fall. They described how the OSAP cuts threaten their survival as a student with multiple disabilities reliant on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).
“I’m truly terrified because as a multiple-disabled and marginalized person, I wouldn’t be able to survive without social assistance, let alone go to school and get a degree,” they said.
Baldwin elaborated on the housing crisis and food insecurity already making postsecondary unaffordable, and how these cuts will push many disabled students like them out entirely.
In addition to student concerns over affordability, there are also concerns about accountability.
Reem Hammoud, a 4th Year Human Rights and Social Justice student at Carleton, and organizer for Students for Justice in Palestine’s Carleton chapter, said many students feel frustrated about where their tuition money goes.
“Carleton has consistently refused to divest from companies that are complicit in human rights violations, despite students’ constant attempts to fight back through tactics such as protesting and petitions, like the current CUSA divestment petition,” she explained.
Gillian Lister, a fourth year student pursuing a Film Studies major with a minor in Sexuality Studies at Carleton, finds it “abhorrent that [Doug Ford] clearly values sports and liquor over the concept of students wanting to gain knowledge past high school.”
Last year, CBC reported “the cost of Ontario’s expansion of alcohol sales to convenience, grocery and big box stores will cost taxpayers roughly $1.4 billion by 2030.”
Student Leaders and Joint Efforts
Interviewing university community leaders brings hope to the students fighting back, with messages of collaboration and unity against the cuts.
Sean Joe-Ezigbo, the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) President, said he “hope(s) to see a higher level of intentionality, not just throwing money at the issue but carefully understanding the areas in which students in the post-secondary level need support and tailoring the care specifically to those issues.”
Emma Pierce, the Vice President Academics of the Carleton Academic Student Government (CASG), is a 4th year student in Forensic Psychology and Law at Carleton University. She said she wants “to see our campus organizations, including CASG and CUSA, move beyond passive disappointment,” noting how there can be active community supports with programs like the scholarships launched by her initiative in CASG this year.
Allan Buri, a former CASG President and Vice Chair of CUSA Board in his 4th year in the Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management at Carleton University, said he would “love to see CUSA continue strengthening its relationships with our Ottawa Centre MPP and peer student unions to share Carleton’s student perspectives with provincial decision-makers.”
Echoing the concerns of the students they represent, these community leaders are fighting to see these changes reversed, with CUSA and CASG banding together against these changes, and student unions across Ontario stretching their reach by working together.
Alex Stratas, the University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) Advocacy Commissioner in her 4th year of Political Science and Communications at the University of Ottawa, said the union is working with student unions across Ottawa and Ontario towards group mobilization efforts. Further initiatives she hopes to accomplish include everything from “writing campaigns to phone banks” to ensure people have the tools and access to information necessary to use their power as individual advocates.
The momentum was visible when students gathered across the province on March 4 and 24, as student unions worked together to protest and push for the province to reverse course.
“Our asks are very clear. Reverse the changes, keep the OSAP grants accessible for our students, and treat education as a right,” said Aidan Kallioinen, Vice President Student Issues of CUSA, during his speech at the March 24 rally near the Ottawa Courthouse.
“Let’s stand together, let’s make it clear our students are not going to be ignored because when we act together we can win.”
Joint Political Opposition
The student mobilization reached Queen’s Park, where Members of Provincial Parliament have been listening and amplifying student voices.
In an interview conducted by The Leveller with Catherine McKenney, NDP MPP for Ottawa Centre, they said that the demand for Premier Doug Ford to resign was made clear.
“Somebody else from the province who cares about people, cares about housing, cares about students, cares about jobs, health care [should replace him]. If I could send one message that I would hope he would listen to, that would be it,” they said.
McKenney also mentioned in a panel organized by Carleton NDP on February 26, that Ford’s government has backed down on controversial decisions in the past.
“We saw it during COVID, I don’t know how many of you remember that, but they backed down two times, they backed down on other measures, they backed down on part of Bill 60 around tenant protections and security of tenure for tenants. So, they will back down if there’s enough pressure.”
Chandra Pasma, NDP MPP for Ottawa West—Nepean, and Official Opposition’s Shadow Minister for Education, also took part in the panel. Although her focus is on education at the primary and secondary level, she also criticized the government’s actions.
“It is going to mean greater debt, greater financial uncertainty, and even some people choosing not to attend post-secondary at all, because they don’t see a way to afford it,” she said.
Pasma also encouraged students to take action through the Save OSAP campaign launched by the Ontario NDP on February 18.
“Our asks are very clear. Reverse the changes, keep the OSAP grants accessible for our students, and treat education as a right.” – Aidan Kallioinen, CUSA VP Student Issues
Tyler Watt, MPP for Nepean and Liberal Critic for Colleges & University, also participated in an interview with The Leveller, and shared similar thoughts on these cuts.
“I think it is egregious. It is unfair to young people and students in a time where cost of living and affordability is already so hard for everyone, especially young people, and those in post secondary, we really shouldn’t be making it harder for students to get into the workforce and start their lives after university or college,” said Watt, who got involved in politics after the 2019 OSAP cuts.
“This is not the first time that this government in Doug Ford has attacked students, and I was in nursing school when the changes happened. I was a part of the free tuition program under the previous Ontario liberal government, which was a bursary for low income students like myself.”
Marit Stiles, who is the leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party and the leader of the Official Opposition, forced a debate and vote at Queen’s Park on March 31 that called on the reversal to these cuts. Stiles’ motion was defeated by the Conservative MPPs.
The student and worker mobilization against provincial cuts is continuing throughout the rest of the month. A province-wide protest broadly opposing provincial policies – including OSAP cuts – has been organized for April 25, with the meeting location set for the Human Rights Monument in downtown Ottawa at 1pm. Locals of OPSEU, the union representing college workers across the province, are rallying for increased investment in public post-secondary education on April 29.
As well, Carleton4Palestine has called for a rally against Carleton’s Board of Governors and to divest from companies profiting off of the occupation of Palestine on April 28 at 2:30pm. The Leveller recently connected how these investments have led to significant academic and staffing cuts.
Editor’s Note: Maxwell Heroux is the president-elect for the Carleton University Students’ Association. See more of the March 28 Ottawa protests from photographer Mackenzie Po here.
