Students Need Action:
Open Letter to Provincial Party Leaders
August 13, 2021
To: The Right Honorable Iain Rankin, Tim Houston, Gary Burrill, and Jessica Alexander
Dear Party Leaders,
As we approach an election in Nova Scotia, post-secondary students across the province want to know what your party’s commitment to young people will be if elected. Students and young people continue to be left behind in platforms as well in practice. We need a government that will invest in the future of young people in this province.
On behalf of over 19,000 students studying at Dalhousie University, as well as other student organizations in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, we are calling on the party elected in August to commit to the following:
1. Funding for Post-Secondary Education
Nova Scotia has had the fasting rising rates of tuition in the country for almost a decade, and currently has the highest tuition fees in this country. The memorandum of understanding between the Province of Nova Scotia and the province’s universities states that each institution’s operating grant will increase by “not less than (1%) from the previous year” on a yearly basis. This mandated 1% increase is insufficient when faculty salaries, expenses, and inflation increase at faster rates. In other words, this so-called increase is effectively a cut to funding for post-secondary institutions in this province. In fact, post-secondary education in Nova Scotia has been chronically underfunded for decades.
Skyrocketing tuition fees are directly linked to the lack of government funding for post-secondary education. More and more of the costs of running and maintaining our universities are being offloaded onto students, but it does not have to be this way. Education is both a right and a necessity within today’s society and we need public investment in our public education system. Students need long-term, sustainable government funding for Post-Secondary Institutions in this province. This is a necessary step to move towards universally accessible education for all.
2. Affordable and Accessible Housing
Halifax is in a housing crisis and students are struggling. Vacancy rates in HRM are some of the lowest in the country, rental prices are increasing, the cost of education continues to rise, and the amount of housing that post-secondary institutions provide to students has decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students need accessible, safe, and affordable housing now.
Most students are renters and are therefore in need of renter protections including but not limited to permanent rent control. Permanent rent control cannot be the only solution, however, and cannot be done in a vacuum. All 95 recommendations in the “Keys to a Housing Secure Future For All Nova Scotians” report by the Housing for All Working Group must be implemented to ensure a holistic solution to the housing crisis which prioritizes those who are most disproportionately impacted by houselessness and housing insecurity—including women, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, African Nova Scotians, Indigenous peoples, migrants, and those with disabilities.
One of the key measures to ensure affordable housing for students is to increase the province’s minimum wage immediately, with the long-term goal of increasing it to a living wage. Additional income support must also be provided for Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA) recipients to close the poverty gap for those accessing these supports. Many of these recipients have disabilities, and it is vitally important that people with disabilities can access affordable housing that is also physically accessible.
3. Reconciliation with Indigenous Communities
It has been more than five years since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report was published, and little progress has been made for Mi’kmaq and Indigenous students in Mi’kma’ki. The Nova Scotia government must implement all 94 Calls to Action in the TRC’s report, as well as all 231 Calls to Action in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA Peoples.
Specifically, students need the government to work with post-secondary institutions to implement the calls to action directly related to education. For those calls to action that are not directly under the authority of the province to implement, rather than dismissing them as “under federal jurisdiction” the Nova Scotia government must advocate relentlessly for the federal government to implement these calls to action, on behalf of Indigenous learners and communities in Mi’kma’ki. This includes the 11th call to action in the TRC’s report, which calls upon the federal government to provide adequate funding to end the backlog of First Nations students seeking a post-secondary education. Indigenous peoples need access to post-secondary education in Mi’kma’ki.
4. Addressing the Climate Crisis
The climate crisis is a serious threat not just for our future but for our present. We are already seeing the devastating effects of climate change on communities around the world in the form
of severe weather events such as wildfires. Immediate and bold government action is needed to address the climate crisis.
Students need the party elected this August to commit to building no new fossil fuel infrastructure, with the overarching aim of bringing Nova Scotia to 100% fossil fuel free by 2040 at the latest. The elected party must work to ensure that 90% of Nova Scotia’s electricity needs are supplied with renewable energy by 2030 and include a just transition for students and workers in high-carbon industries. Central to this work will be the establishment of a provincial Environmental Equity Working Group that includes a race-equity lens to environmental decision-making. In order to address the climate crisis, the provincial government must work directly with Mi’kmaq and African Nova Scotian communities.
5. Support for International Students and Migrants
International student and migrant voices must be heard this election season. International students and migrants contribute so much to Nova Scotian post-secondary institutions and economy, yet they pay exorbitant tuition fees—more than double the amount compared to domestic students—and are unable to immediately access health insurance when they arrive in Canada.
Post-secondary institutions cannot continue to be allowed to use international students as cash cows to sustain their institutions. We need the Nova Scotia government to regulate tuition fees in this province and eliminate differential fees for international students. The provincial government must also immediately provide Medical Services Insurance (MSI) to international students and migrants upon arrival. As a province in a country that prides itself on its free healthcare, it is unacceptable to make anyone wait to be able to access health insurance after they arrive in Nova Scotia. Moreover, all migrants—including international students with study permits—need full and permanent resident status now and universal access to provincial services.
We look forward to hearing how your party plans to adopt and address many of the student issues outlined above. As the population of youth continues to grow within this province, it is crucial that if elected, your party takes intentional steps to create and adopt the appropriate legislation to support a post-secondary learning environment that is accessible to all students and is reflective of our diverse needs. Students are the future of this province, accessible and high-quality of education are the foundation of this future.
Signed,
Dalhousie Student Union
Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group (NSPIRG)
King’s Students’ Union
Canadian Federation of Students Nova Scotia