[PEN-L:6729] Student Organizations Stage Week Of Action (Canada)

[SHAWGI TELL <v600a8e6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Across Canada, from October 21 to 25, students, faculty and staff
at universities and colleges affiliated with tthe Canadian
Federation of Students (CFS) will be participating in actions to
protest the cuts to post-secondary education.  Activities will be
launched in Manitoba on October 21, where the demand for a
legislated limit on yearly tuition increases will be put forward.
On the same day, students from the Universities of Regina and
Saskatchewan, as well as colleges and high schools in the region
will hold a noon-hour rally at the provincial legislature, followed
by a march to the offices of Federal Agriculture Minister Ralph
Goodale.
     Students from the eastern provinces will stage their
activities on October 22, with walk-outs being planned at various
campuses in Halifax and marches departing from several rallying
points concluding with a joint rally at the provincial legislature.
Students in Newfoundland will gather on the same day at Memorial
University, from where they will also march to the provincial
legislature. High school and post-secondary students in Prince
Edward Island will also stage a rally.
     On October 23, a year-long student task-force on barriers to
post-secondary education will be launched in British Columbia and
the Yukon. Information on the problem will be solicited from
non-student youth and those at educational institutions throughout
the province.
     Students in Quebec will be staging their protest actions
against cuts to post-secondary education on October 24, details are
still to be finalized.
     The Student Week of Action will culminate in Toronto on
October 25, the day of the city-wide shutdown against the Harris
government. Students from universities and colleges throughout
Ontario will join in various pickets on the morning of October 25,
to contribute to the general work stoppage. At 1 pm, a
demonstration in support of education at all levels will be held at
the corner of Bay and Wellesely in front of the offices of the
Ministry of Education and Training. At campuses across the province
of Ontario, organizing committees for the Week of Action, and
particularly for the October 25-26 protests, have been established.
Amongst other things, the students are highlighting the
consequences of the Harris government's $400 million cuts to
post-secondary education: eroding library services, larger classes,
increased student debt, ever-increasing tuition, deregulation of
tuition by program, job layoffs, job attrition, and overwork.


Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
V600A8E6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx