Student movements

About

This guide lists sources of background information, current news and statements from relevant groups, and resources for further research on the Quebec student movement of 2011-2012 and related topics. It is a work in progress and is meant to be used critically, so suggestions are welcome. For now, the annotations are in English, but the resources are both French and English. Pour le moment, les annotations sont en anglais, mais les ressources sont tant en anglais qu'en français. 

News Sources

Special sections covering the Quebec student movement:

• CBC (English)
• Le Devoir (French)
• The Economist (English)
• The Guardian (UK) (English)
• Huffington Post (English) 
• Maclean's magazine (editorials in English)
• Montreal Media Co-op: Articles, images, and video posted by community users (English and French)
• La Presse (French)
• Rabble.ca (English)
• Radio-Canada (French)
• Translating the printemps érable is a volunteer collective that translates French media coverage of the student movement into English

Newspaper databases

Search across many newspapers at once for current and historical stories related to the student movement and related topics. 

• Canadian Newsstand: English Canadian newspapers)
• Newscan.com: English and French Canadian newspapers, some European publications
• List of international news databases 

Locating Scholarly Articles 

Journal articles and special issues

• Theory & Event: Special issue on the Quebec student movement (Volume 15, Issue 3, 2012 Supplement)
• wi: journal of mobile media: Special issue on the Quebec student movement
  
• Michael A. McCarthy. "Occupying Higher Education: The Revival of the Student Movement." New Labor Forum 21, no. 2 (2012): 50-55. Mentions Quebec once; mostly discusses American movements. [Subscription required: free for McGill readers]

Analysis of the current movement will not widely found in scholarly materials yet, but articles databases can be used to find scholarship on past student action, education in Quebec, and related social movements. Here are some recommeneded databases:

• International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
  index to journal articles in anthropology, economics, politics and sociology
• Google Scholar
  free, multidiscplinary index that can link you to some of McGill's resources
• ProQuest Research Library 
  multidisciplinary database
• Alternative Press Index 
  indexes publications relating to cultural, economic, political & social change. Includes academic and non-academic sources
• CPI.Q (Canadian Periodical Index) 
  indexes content related to Canada: academic journals, popular magazines, newspapers
• Érudit
  multidisciplinary, French language
• Repère
  multidisciplinary, French language

Background Information

Related books and reports (print copies in the McGill Library unless otherwise noted)

• Behiels, Michael D., and Matthew Hayday. 2011. Contemporary Quebec: Selected Readings and Commentaries. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press. 
• Hamel, Pierre. 1991. Action collective et démocratie locale: les mouvements urbains montréalais. Montréal: Presses de l'Université de Montréal.  
• Hammond-Callaghan, Marie, and Matthew Hayday. 2008. Mobilizations, Protests and Engagements: Canadian Perspectives on Social Movements. Black Point, Nova Scotia: Fernwood. 
• Lacroix, Robert, and Michel Trahan. 2007. Le Québec et les droits de scolarité universitaire. Montréal, Québec: Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en analyse des organisations. Free online [PDF]
• Neatby, Nicole. 1999. Carabins ou activistes?: l'idéalisme et la radicalisation de la pensée étudiante à l'Université de Montréal au temps du duplessisme. Montréal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
• Staggenborg, Suzanne. 2012. Social Movements. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press. 
• Online publications related to education in Quebec (French only) from l’Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques 

Encyclopedias and bibliographies

• Bibliography of Social Movements
• The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to the Present
• Guide to research on protests and social movements from the University of Wisconsin-Madison libraries
• Wikipedia articles on the 2012 Quebec student protests (see links to related articles and outside sources): English and French

Quebec government information related to tuition for higher education

• Quebec government-sponsored website on post-secondary tuition issues: English and French  
• Comité consultatif sur l'accessibilité financière aux études (Advisory Committee on the Financial Accessibility of Education). A committee of Quebec's Conseil supérieur de l'éducation: English and French

Loi 78

• Quebec Bill 78 (2012, chapter 12), originally presented in English: "An Act to enable students to receive instruction from the postsecondary institutions they attend." English [PDF]  and French [PDF]
• Quebec National Assembly webpage for Bill 78: English and French

Education statistics

• Quebec government statistics on education (mostly French only)
• Statistics Canada data on Education 
• International statistics on higher education enrolment, expenditure, etc. from UNESCO and OECD 
• See this guide to more national and international statistics on Education

Student Perspectives

• Mouvement des étudiants socialement responsables du Québec (Quebec Movement of Socially Responsible Students) (French)
• Gratuite Scolaire.info: Informational site about accessible education (French)
• Stop the Hike / Bloquons la hausse: website run by CLASSE
• Tuition Truth: developed by the Students’ Society of McGill University. (English only, not updated recently)
• Greve 2012: Guide that compiles news, background information, multimedia, etc. from a Quebec student (French)
• Recomposition blog: post that gives an overview of Quebec student movement (English)
• CounterPunch article on the student movement (English)
• Bloquons la rentrée: brief website calling for a return to the strike in August 2012 (Arabic, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish)
• Lengthy report on the strike, up to August 2012, from CrimethInc ("Ex-Workers Collective"). Includes a chronology of events, defintions of terms and actors, videos, etc.

Quebec student unions and federations

All sites contain information about the movement's origins, position statements, news, links, and materials such as videos and pamphlets. The sites are in French unless otherwise noted.

• L’Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ)
• Coalition large de l'Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (CLASSE). Temporary coalition for the 2012 student strike
• Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ)
• Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) (English home page)
• La Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TaCEQ). Student lobbying organization

Multimedia

• Red Square Revolt: Quebec Students on Strike: Documentary that summarizes reasons for the tuition strike and events to June 2012
• Bros Before Hausses: Tumblr site with images from demonstrations 
• Seeing Red Montreal: images of the red square symbol of the movement
• Live coverage of demonstrations from CUTV, Concordia's campus/community television station
• Video "Pour la hausse" from Mouvement des étudiants socialement responsables du Québec
  (French)

Social media

The movement on:

• Twitter: #manifencours and #ggi [grève générale illimitée / general unlimited strike] 
• Facebook
  • Bloquons la hausse
  • MÉSRQ (log-in required)
  • For more Facebook groups, search for terms such as: "contre la greve," "against a strike," "quebec students," "greve quebec," etc.
• Images on Flickr: Mouvement Étudiant - Contre la hausse des frais de scolarité

Related Subject Guides

• Political Science
• Canadian Politics
• Quebec Studies
• Education
• Political Participation in Comparative Perspective
• Occupy Movement guide from York University