Student organizations in Canada and Quebec's ‘Maple Spring’

Abstract

This article has two major objectives: to describe the structure of the student movement in Canada and the formal role of students in higher education governance, and to describe and analyze the ‘Maple Spring,’ the dramatic mobilization of students in opposition to proposed tuition fee increases in Quebec that eventually led to a provincial election and the fall of the government. Based on an analysis of documents, news reports, and a small number of interviews with student leaders, the article will analyze what became the largest student protest movement in Canadian history.