Campaigns

On June 18, 2019, the Minister of Education and Higher Education, Jean-François Roberge, announced new measures to financially compensate interns in Quebec. In total, a recurring $30 million investment will fund a new scholarship program to support the academic perseverance of interns in several programs in education, health, and social services. The new Intern Perseverance and Success Scholarship Program also includes funds that were previously distributed through the Future Teachers Appreciation Program. As a result, four times as many students will receive a financial compensation in fall 2019!

To read an article with more details on the program, in French, click here.

On August 22, the official distribution process for the scholarships were made public, including the application form. The application is available on the Student Financial Aid program’s website, here. The eligibility criteria are as follows:

1. Be enrolled in the final compulsory internship for one of the targeted programs;
2. Be enrolled in a public or private educational institution located in Quebec and recognized by the Ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur;
3. Complete the internship in Quebec, unless exceptional circumstances, and in a public, subsidized private or community institution;
4. Complete more than half of the internship between September 1, 2019, and August 31, 2020.

You are not eligible if :

1. You have already received the total amount provided under the program for the same program of study;
2. You are completing an internship in an employee or probationary capacity with the exception of final internships in education, where a maximum of five days of remunerated substitute teaching is allowed during the internship;
3. You are receiving a sum of money or benefiting from a bursary outside of the Quebec Loans and Bursaries Program that is conditional on completion of the internship.

- Bachelor of Education
- Bachelor of Midwifery
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing
- Bachelor of Social Work
- Master of Education
- Master of Special Education
- Master in Communication Sciences and Disorders – Speech-Language Pathology
- Master of Psychoeducation
- Master of Social Work

The government’s decision to compensate interns in some programs and not others was based on its own analysis of the situation. As a result, many deserving programs were excluded. The FECQ and the QSU have a responsibility to continue their fight to secure a fair compensation for those programs.

The scholarships are distributed in two instalments : you will receive the first half at the beginning of your internship and the second half at the end, as long as you’ve completed it. The amounts awarded for each program are as follows:

The QSU also wants to highlight improvements to the allowable expenses under the Student Financial Aid program. In total, $5.6 million will be invested in the regular loans and bursaries program to better account for the needs of interns, specifically for costs associated with the purchase of educational material and housing during an internship. For example, in 2018-2019, an additional amount of $281 was granted to students who have to rent a second residence for their internship. This amount will be increased to $486 a month in 2019-2020. Students doing full-time internships also couldn’t have the allowable expense for educational material recognized prior to these changes. Now that they can, interns will receive an additional amount between $191 and $471 a semester.

The exemption for scholarships and bursaries under the Student Financial Aid program was also increased. Currently, any income from bursaries over $5,000 is included when determining a student’s contribution and calculating the amount of financial aid they receive. The exemption for income from bursaries will now be increased from $5,000 to $7,500.

Demand: The QSU demands that measures be put in place to provide a financial compensation to all students undertaking an internship in which they complete work that is also part of a regular employee’s tasks.

To read our brief on this subject, click here.