

Codi Wilson, CP24.com





Ryerson University students are taking part in “strike action” on Wednesday to protest funding cuts made by the Ford government.

Students at the downtown university have set up picket lines in front of Ryerson University’s Student Learning Centre on Yonge Street to raise awareness about what they refer to as the “government’s attacks on students and youth.”

Organizers say students at York University and OCAD University are also holding similar demonstrations on their respective campuses today.

Students are protesting cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program and are calling for the government to repeal the ‘Student Choice Initiative,’ which gives students the option to opt-out of non-essential supplementary fees that fund student groups, student unions, as well as campus newspapers and radio stations.

“We are going to be speaking to all the students as they come through, talking to them about the cuts, how it is so important that we go on strike, that we revive those traditions in English Canada that were so successful in Quebec,” Hermes Azam, chair of the Ryerson Student Strike Committee, told CP24 on Wednesday morning.

Organizers are also calling for the elimination of tuition fees and the cancellation of all student debt.

“Since January, when the Ford government announced what would amount to an over-$600 million cut in post-secondary education spending, students have been told they must live with less so Premier Ford can cut taxes for his wealthy friends,” the Ryerson Student Strike Committee said in a news release issued earlier this week.

“This has meant gutting grants for low-income students, it’s meant scrapping the grace period on student loan interest, it’s meant cutting funding for education and more…Students cannot afford to be passive.”