Hundreds of students across Ontario from high schools, colleges and universities rallied in protest of the Ford government’s sweeping changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).
Students, teachers, and other educational workers are warning that cuts to grants and rising tuition will deepen inequality and push higher education out of reach. Protests and walkouts occurred over the course of several days in the beginning of March.
On March 4, students and educational workers from across the province gathered at the provincial legislature at Queen’s Park to demonstrate against the Tory’s OSAP cuts. The event culminated in the violent arrest of a student and a tense standoff with TPS
“I think people need to stand up to this. Doug Ford has, since 2018, devastated the young people of this province,” said Brandon, a student who spoke with The North Star at the demonstration. Another student, who preferred to not be named, said, “I come from a single-mother household. Before coming to UofT, we were homeless. OSAP covers most of my education. This affects me a lot.”
Cuts include restructuring OSAP so that up to 25% of student aid will be non-repayable grants,while at least 75% will be loans, a major shift from the previous system’s accommodation, where grants made up most of the funding.
Students marched and chanted anti-austerity slogans, directing their anger squarely at Doug Ford. Ford has previously dismissed certain programs as “basket-weaving majors” in an attempt to justify cuts to student support.
To demonstrators, this rhetoric is deeply revealing, reducing education to market utility, whilst undermining public educational assistance. Another student, Jane, emphasized that access to education should not be conditional on exorbitant debt, but treated as a public good “that should be free for everybody […] that anyone deserves that right”.
These cuts to student grants come within the context of rising rents, food insecurity, and an increasingly unaffordable province. Students fear graduating in debt, while the Tory government slashes public education funding and attempts to cap wages on provincial employees, including school staff.
The timing of these cuts comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney strengthens educational partnerships with India, expanding scholarship invitations to the country. The students at Queens Park informed The North Star that this contrast becomes difficult to ignore. While education is being positioned internationally as a tool of diplomacy and economic growth, access at home is increasingly tied to debt.
Ontarian students are not the only ones staring down austerity measures. Students in Montreal have also formed pickets in response to measures that would deteriorate the quality of their education and cut staff.
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