Quebec judge invalidates tuition hike, French requirements for out-of-province university students
CBC
A Quebec Superior Court judge on Thursday struck down a tuition hike for out-of-province Canadian university students in Quebec and the French language requirements that the province had attempted to impose on them.
In his 82-page decision, Judge Éric Dufour awarded McGill and Concordia universities a partial victory.
He invalidated changes that the Higher Education Ministry made to its budgetary rules. Those changes raised tuition fees for out-of-province students by 33 per cent and said 80 per cent of them needed to learn French by graduation. The changes also affected international students, setting their minimum tuition fees at about $20,000.
Dufour struck down the rules that affected out-of-province Canadian students, saying that the ministry lacked data to support its claims that they weren't integrating into Quebec society.
"The evidence shows that the ministry has absolutely no data on this subject, or only fragile information to back it up," Dufour wrote.
He also said that the requirement that 80 per cent of out-of-province undergraduate students at English-language universities reach an intermediate level of proficiency in French by graduation was "unreasonable given the near-certain impossibility of achievement."
Dufour gave the ministry a nine-month timeline to revise the fee structure. For now, the current rules will stand, he wrote. The language requirements, however, are immediately invalidated, according to the ruling.
But he did leave the international student fee increases unchanged. He said it was reasonable that the government should want to rebalance the funding that English and French universities receive. English universities tend to attract more international students, who pay higher tuition fees. The Higher Education Ministry has said the higher fee structure for international students would allow them to redistribute money to Quebec's French universities.
Quebec had initially doubled tuition fees for out-of-province students, later rolling that number back to a 33 per cent hike but imposing the French language requirement.
The increase raised tuition fees for out-of-province Canadian students from about $9,000 to $12,000.
Premier François Legault had said the presence of English-speaking students hurt the future of French in Quebec.
The heads of Quebec's English universities had criticized the move, saying the increase in tuition fees made their programs unappealing to students across the country. Both McGill and Concordia had said the tuition hikes had led to a drop in enrolment, and caused them to tighten their budgets.
The requirement to teach French to 80 per cent of their students was "totally unrealistic, both technically and academically," Deep Saini, McGill University's president and vice-chancellor, said in December 2023, when the Higher Education Ministry announced the changes.
In an email on Thursday, Saini said his administration looks "forward to working with the government of Quebec to comply with the ruling rendered by the court."
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.