Campaigns

Student research funding

In collaboration with our partners Support Our Science and the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, the QSU held a petition in support of student researchers. They are the research and innovation workforce of Quebec and Canada. The petition, which closed on November 27, 2023, was sponsored by Maxime Blanchette-Joncas of the Bloc Québécois.

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Petition

November 27, 2023

In collaboration with our partners Support Our Science and the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, the QSU held a petition in support of student researchers. They are the research and innovation workforce of Quebec and Canada. This petition, which closed on November 27, 2023, with a total of 3,400 signatures, was sponsored by Maxime Blanchette-Joncas of the Bloc Québécois.

Link to the petition

Video capsules

Through five video capsules, we'd like to demonstrate the reality of several researchers. We'd like to emphasize that we need to increase the number and value of scholarships, and we need to do it quickly. Our next generation of scientists deserves much better!

Video 1

"In fact, it's a problem of valorization. If we haven't increased or indexed scholarship amounts for 20 years, it's because we don't value them and, in the end, we leave students in a precarious situation and don't take their reality into account. We're making the future precarious.” - Gabriel Jarvis , Master's candidate in history and CRIDAQ-UQAM research fellowship holder.

Video 2

In this video, Mr. Perreault, President of Acfas and Vice-Rector, Research and Graduate Studies, talks about the shortfall in the value of scholarships established in 2003. Since then, inflation has been over 50% and scholarships have not been adjusted. Our research student community finds itself below the poverty line.

Video 3

In this video, Marie-Pier Berthelet talked to us about doctoral scholarships and the impossibility for full-time research students to devote 100% of their time to their research due to financial insecurity. To meet their basic needs, research students need to have an income from outside sources.

Video 4

In this capsule, Jules Poirier-Ostiguy explains the reality of students who have been receiving non-indexed grants for over 20 years. Living below the poverty line means forgetting all about activities that are link mental health and leisure activities. By counting the inflation, rising grocery bills and housing costs, there's almost nothing left in the pockets of student researchers. The only option is debt.

Video 5

In this latest capsule, Maxime Blanchette-Joncas shares some alarming and deplorable facts about researchers.

Press conference

March 19, 2024

Our President, Catherine Bibeau-Lorrain, CASA, Support Our Science and several other organizations were in Ottawa to take part in an all-party budget briefing on research underfunding.

The QSU believes that substantial investments in research are needed to increase the number and size of scholarships!

Articles quoting QSU on this subject

Articles :

Le passage de la recherche scientifique sous Fitzgibbon fait débat - Radio-Canada

About UEQ

News

Discover the various political initiatives undertaken by the Quebec Student Union to defend the interests of the university student community on issues of direct concern to them.

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Tuition fee increases for Canadians outside Quebec

On October 13, 2023, the Minister of Higher Education and the Minister of the French Language announced a significant increase in tuition fees for Canadian students outside Quebec. The QSU immediately took a stand against this unacceptable tuition fee increase.

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Enough is enough

Until March 15, QSU launches a movement to incite an ecological transition for the universities. Universities and the government must take action now before it's too late! ⌛

Enough is enough!

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At the front line for remuneration

The Quebec student union, in collaboration with the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ), is calling for ALL internships in the public and parapublic sector to be remunerated.

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