Historical Analysis of Quebec Student Protests: Conflicts in Canada

This essay provides an overview of the Quebec student protests that occurred in 2012. It details the reasons behind the protests, which were primarily the proposed increase in university tuition fees by the Quebec Cabinet. The essay discusses the involvement of various student unions, such as Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, and the duration of the protests, which lasted for about 100 days. It also highlights the support the students received from Left Wing groups and opposition parties. Furthermore, the essay mentions the government's response, including restrictions on protests, and the eventual resolution. The essay references several academic sources to support its claims and provide a comprehensive understanding of the historical context and impact of the Quebec student protests.

Running head: CONFLCTS IN CANADA
Conflicts in Canada
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CONFLICTS IN CANADA
Students Protests in Quebec against Government!!!
Every country in the world had its share of violence and conflicts owing to various reasons.
So, it is only natural that the country of Canada, will also be having its own share of conflicts
over the years. Among all those conflicts, one of the most significant conflicts of the modern
times. This significant conflict which took place in the history of the country is the student
protest which took place in the city of Quebec, Montreal in Canada itself.
In the year of 2012, the student started to protest in the city of Quebec. The mode of their
protest was by organizing a number of student demonstrations in the city itself and were led
in the protest by the Student Union named Association pour une solidarité syndicale
étudiante, the Federations étudiante universitaire du Québec, and the Fédération étudiante
collégiale du Québec. (Giroux, 2016) The main reason why the students started to protest in
the city itself is because of the fact that the Quebec Cabinet had proposed for the increase of
the fees of the students in the university from $2,169 to $3, 793 between the years of 2012 –
2018.
The protest by the students ultimately continued fir about 100 days. The students were
supported in their endeavours by the Left Wing groups as well as the opposition parties in the
political fields lent their support to the demonstration of the students themselves. It was a
large number of students has participated in the demonstration itself, while the remaining
students continued to attend the classes without participating in the movement itself. Thus, it
can be said that the movement was indeed a strong one (Begin-Caoette, 2016).
In fact, many experts state that the movement had such an impact on the Government of the
country itself, that a notice was passed by the Government of the country itself, in which the
Government laid down several restrictions, which prevented the students from participating
in protests or picketing on the University grounds, and might resort to police assistance if

2CONFLICTS IN CANADA
necessary. Thus, it can be said that the protests were finally able to be controlled with the
intervention of the Government as well as the agreement and the understanding with the
students, although some critics are still cynical about the students after the protest, since the
surfacing of a picture about some students placing smoke bombs on the Montreal Metro
(Spiegel, 2015).
Thus, the article clearly gives the idea to the readers about the historical backgrounds and
also the subject matter of the Quebec Protests in the year 2012. This article would explain to
the students better about the historical backgrounds of the event as well as the aftermath of
the event which impacted the Government of the country enough to ensure that the students
stop their protests and resort to peaceful attending of their classes. Thus, this forms a blog
article on the subject matter of the Quebec Protests of the year 2012.

3CONFLICTS IN CANADA
Reference List
Bégin-Caouette, Olivier, and Glen A. Jones. "Student organizations in Canada and Quebec's
‘Maple Spring’." Studies in Higher Education 39, no. 3 (2014): 412-425.
Giroux, Henry A. "The Quebec student protest movement in the age of neoliberal terror."
Social Identities 19, no. 5 (2013): 515-535.
Raynauld, Vincent, Mireille Lalancette, and Sofia Tourigny-Koné. "Political protest 2.0:
Social media and the 2012 student strike in the province of Quebec, Canada." French
Politics 14, no. 1 (2016): 1-29.
Spiegel, Jennifer Beth. "Rêve général illimité? The role of creative protest in transforming the
dynamics of space and time during the 2012 Quebec student strike." Antipode 47, no.
3 (2015): 770-791.