The undersigned strongly oppose the current tactics of CLASSE and other student groups in Quebec, Canada, with regard to the ongoing student strike. The actions of specific members of this movement serve not only to violently disrupt the daily lives of students and citizens accross the province, but counteract their own stated goals through the blockading of CEGEPs, Colleges and Universities. These blockades infringe upon the rights of access granted to non-striking students, who, as in any democratic society, have the right to legally oppose a political movement.
This petition calls for:
- The revocation of support for CLASSE and other involved student groups by external Students' Unions and organizations, to be reversed only in the case that unlawful and violent tactics are explicity condemed and actively prevented.
- A recognition of the fact that unlawful and violent tactics are unacceptable in democratic protests
- For a rational, cooperative solution to be arrived at as soon as possible, taking into account the financial positions of both the student population and provincial and federal governments.
- The dissemination of information of the challenges students across the nation and globe face, and the framing of the question of tuition in a national sense, rather than provincial.
- Active review and comparison of tuition rates across regions and provinces in Canada, with the goal of consistent and fair tuition rates across the country.
This petition does not condemn the peaceful actions, carried by frustrated students in an attempt to gain fair and reasonable access to post-secondary education. It does, however, strongly condemn actions of civil disobedience, intimidation, violence, and the condoning, tacit or explicit, of these activities.
