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Students take action on Ford’s Attack on Students

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K’JIPUKTUK (HALIFAX), March 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- K’JIPUKTUK (HALIFAX) – Students in Nova Scotia are joining students across the country in solidarity actions to protest the Ontario government’s attack on students and student unions. 

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Through the so-called Student Choice Initiative, introduced by Premier Doug Ford’s government on January 17, post-secondary students in Ontario will have the ability to opt out of paying fees for democratically voted-on student services. These fees will also no longer be covered by provincial loans and grants, making it harder for low-income students to pay since they will have to come up with the money out of pocket. 

 

“Ford is targeting student unions and organizations that have been critical of his government through this initiative,” said Aidan McNally, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students – Nova Scotia. “This policy is a clear attempt to muzzle any resistance to Ford’s anti-public education agenda and will place campus services and student union representation in jeopardy. Students from across the country are united in our opposition to this policy.”

 

Student unions provide a number of services which will now be under threat. These include but are not limited to, food banks, centres and resources for 2SLGBTQ students, Indigenous students, sexual assault support centres, academic advocacy, campus newspapers and campus radio, and the administration of student transit passes and health and dental plans, among many others. Under the Student Choice Initiative, the associated fees for these services are being labelled “non-essential”.

 

In solidarity with students in Ontario, and recognizing the dangerous precedent this could set for students across the country, students have released a letter calling for legisltaion to be passed in Nova Scotia protecting students unions and will be hosting letter writing to Ford on campuses along with solidairty walk outs against this policy. 

“This attack on progressive values is reprehensible,” said McNally. “This policy is accompanied by devastating cuts to the provincial grants program, converting many existing grants to repayable loans, making education that much more inaccessible to low- and middle-income students in Ontario. Taken together, these policies are devastating for students and must also be opposed here.” 

 

The Canadian Federation of Students is the oldest and largest student organization in Canada, representing more than 500,000 college and university students across the country.
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Sarah Trower, Organiser, Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia 

[email protected]  902-802-0055

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Sarah Trower
Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia
902-802-0055
[email protected]

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