Latest news with #Dufour
Toronto Sun
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Despite court ruling, Quebec plans to maintain 33% tuition hike for out-of-province students
'It's not up to the Quebec government to guarantee financial accessibility to studies for non-Quebecers,' the Education Ministry says. Published Jun 10, 2025 • Last updated 18 hours ago • 3 minute read Concordia and McGill universities. Montreal Gazette Amid legal pushback, Quebec says it remains committed to its contentious tuition reform targeting Concordia and McGill universities, vowing to maintain a steep fee increase for out-of-province students. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account In April, Quebec Superior Court Justice Éric Dufour ruled that parts of the overhaul were 'unreasonable' and ordered key sections struck down. The Coalition Avenir Québec government did not appeal the ruling by Monday's deadline. Dufour told the province to immediately scrap French proficiency requirements for non-Quebec applicants and gave the government nine months to come up with a new fee structure for out-of-province Canadian students. The government's plan had called for a 33-per-cent tuition hike for these students. In his ruling, Dufour criticized Déry's arguments, echoing the universities' contention that the plan was put forward without sufficient evidence. 'We observe an absence of data on which the minister claims to base her decision,' Dufour wrote. 'At the very least, what she had on hand in no way substantiates the reasonableness of the outcome.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. On Tuesday, Simon Savignac, a spokesperson for Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, indicated that the government stands by its original plan. 'The ruling not only supports the measure to correct the financial imbalance between English- and French-language universities, it also recognizes the government's responsibility to take the necessary steps to protect the French language in Quebec,' he told The Gazette. 'With regard to the tuition fees charged to Canadian students outside Quebec, we firmly believe that it is not up to the Quebec government to guarantee financial accessibility to studies for non-Quebecers.' He said the government is 'staying the course' on the tuition hike. The government's interpretation of the ruling is that the judge did not rule that the 33-per-cent hike was unreasonable, but rather 'the path we've taken and the reasons invoked for the increase.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Savignac said it's too early to say how the government will proceed. Regarding French proficiency, he said Déry 'will be pursuing discussions with English-speaking universities over the coming weeks regarding the terms and conditions surrounding knowledge of French for students from outside Quebec.' In their lawsuits, Concordia and McGill said Quebec's reforms violated equality and language rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. McGill also asserted that the measures contravened anti-discrimination provisions of Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, particularly regarding harm to its reputation and academic freedom. However, the judge did not rule on charter issues, saying the matter could be resolved on administrative law grounds. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Like the Quebec government, Concordia and McGill did not appeal the ruling. When his government announced the changes in 2023, Premier François Legault said they were part of a plan to 'reduce the number of anglophone students' in Quebec. He said English-speaking students from other provinces 'threaten the survival of French.' Jeffery Vacante, a Western University history professor who has written extensively about Quebec's tuition shakeup, said the government is attempting to frame the issue as 'one of accessibility to non-Quebec students.' Instead, he said, it should be framed as the Quebec government 'attacking Quebec institutions (McGill and Concordia) because these institutions are being portrayed as not real Quebec institutions because they are supposedly threatening the French language in Montreal.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He said what Déry 'is in a sense suggesting is that in order to keep out-of-province students out of Quebec, the government must weaken its own institutions to make them less appealing to those out-of-province students.' Vacante said the government is depending on Quebecers supporting the policy because the general population 'might agree that it is not necessary to 'subsidize' out-of-province students. In other words, people might think this sounds reasonable. 'But this public is largely unaware of the fact that Quebec students do not pay much more in tuition when they study at universities in Ontario or elsewhere.' The tuition hike, which made headlines across Canada and around the world, led to a drop in applications from the rest of the country, with the universities compelled to offer scholarships to lure out-of-province students. Concordia and McGill have partially blamed the tuition changes for deep budget cuts. McGill laid off 60 workers in March as it grappled with a large deficit that it partly blamed on CAQ government policies. Last month, Concordia said it may also lay off employees as it works to slash tens of millions of dollars from its budget. This report will be updated. NHL Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Columnists NHL
Montreal Gazette
10-06-2025
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
Despite court ruling, Quebec plans to maintain 33% tuition hike for out-of-province students
By Amid legal pushback, Quebec says it remains committed to its contentious tuition reform targeting Concordia and McGill, vowing to maintain a steep fee increase for out-of-province students. In April, Quebec Superior Court Justice Éric Dufour ruled that parts of the overhaul were 'unreasonable' and ordered key sections struck down. The Coalition Avenir Québec government did not appeal the ruling by Monday's deadline. Dufour told the province to immediately scrap French proficiency requirements for non-Quebec applicants and gave the government nine months to come up with a new fee structure for out-of-province Canadian students. The government's plan had called for a 33-per-cent tuition hike for these students. In his ruling, Dufour criticized Déry's arguments, echoing the universities' contention that the plan was put forward without sufficient evidence. 'We observe an absence of data on which the minister claims to base her decision,' Dufour wrote. 'At the very least, what she had on hand in no way substantiates the reasonableness of the outcome.' On Tuesday, Simon Savignac, a spokesperson for Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, indicated that the government stands by its original plan. 'The ruling not only supports the measure to correct the financial imbalance between English- and French-language universities, it also recognizes the government's responsibility to take the necessary steps to protect the French language in Quebec,' he told The Gazette. 'With regard to the tuition fees charged to Canadian students outside Quebec, we firmly believe that it is not up to the Quebec government to guarantee financial accessibility to studies for non-Quebecers.' He said the government is 'staying the course' on the tuition hike. The government's interpretation of the ruling is that the judge did not rule that the 33-per-cent hike was unreasonable, but rather 'the path we've taken and the reasons invoked for the increase.' Savignac said it's too early to say how the government will proceed. Regarding French proficiency, he said Déry 'will be pursuing discussions with English-speaking universities over the coming weeks regarding the terms and conditions surrounding knowledge of French for students from outside Quebec.' In their lawsuits, Concordia and McGill said Quebec's reforms violated equality and language rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. McGill also asserted that the measures contravened anti-discrimination provisions of Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, particularly regarding harm to its reputation and academic freedom. However, the judge did not rule on charter issues, saying the matter could be resolved on administrative law grounds. Like the Quebec government, Concordia and McGill did not appeal the ruling.
Montreal Gazette
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Quebec won't appeal court ruling blocking 33% tuition hike for out-of-province students
By Quebec will not appeal a court ruling that ordered it to scrap controversial measures targeting Concordia and McGill universities: a 33-per-cent tuition hike for out-of-province students and French proficiency requirements for non-Quebec applicants. A spokesperson for Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry confirmed the decision in an email to The Gazette on Monday, the last day an appeal could be filed. Déry is expected to comment on the matter at a later time. In an April 24 ruling, Quebec Superior Court Justice Éric Dufour largely sided with Concordia and McGill, which had filed lawsuits arguing the Coalition Avenir Québec government's education reforms, announced in the fall of 2023, were illegal. The tuition hike, which made headlines across Canada and the world, led to a drop in applications from the rest of Canada, with the universities offering scholarships to lure out-of-province students. Concordia and McGill have partially blamed the measures for deep budget cuts. The Legault government said the changes would protect the French language and reduce the number of non-French-speaking students in Quebec. In his ruling, Dufour called some of the CAQ's measures 'unreasonable.' The tuition hike, introduced in fall 2024, raised fees for out-of-province undergraduates and non-thesis master's students from about $9,000 to $12,000. Quebec students continued to pay around $3,000. Dufour gave the government nine months to revise the fee structure. He criticized the government's rationale, finding the decision was not supported by solid data and was enacted before receiving advice from an advisory committee, which later urged Déry to scrap the hike. The judge also struck down, effective immediately, a planned French-language rule, which would have required 80 per cent of newly enrolled non-Quebec undergraduates at Concordia and McGill to attain intermediate oral French proficiency by graduation. Dufour found the target virtually impossible to achieve and the penalties for non-compliance — including the possible retroactive withdrawal of subsidies — were unclear. However, Dufour upheld the CAQ government's new rules for international students, including a $20,000 minimum tuition rate and changes to the funding formula. When his government announced the changes in 2023, Premier François Legault said it was part of a plan to 'reduce the number of anglophone students' in Quebec. He said English-speaking students from other provinces 'threaten the survival of French.' McGill laid off 60 workers in March as it grappled with a large deficit that it partly blamed on CAQ government policies. Last month, Concordia announced it may also have to lay off employees as it works to slash tens of millions of dollars from its budget. At the time, Concordia president Graham Carr said the legal victory 'is ultimately a moral, not a material win for Concordia. The damage from those policies has already been done. ' He added: 'Furthermore, the negative impact has been compounded by stringent immigration policies that have caused international applications to plummet, weakening the reputation and financial position of universities across Quebec for years to come.' Carr has previously said he hoped the CAQ government would 'look at this judgment and the larger context and (decide) we can hit reset and take a genuinely collaborative approach to supporting a higher education system that is world-class.' In their lawsuits, Concordia and McGill argued that the reform violated equality and language rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. McGill also claimed the measures contravened anti-discrimination provisions of Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, particularly regarding harm to its reputation and academic freedom. However, the judge did not rule on charter issues, saying the matter could be resolved on administrative law grounds. Jeffery Vacante, an assistant history professor at the University of Western Ontario, has argued the court ruling offers a short-term reprieve but is 'a less resounding victory for McGill and Concordia than one might assume.' 'The judge is not pushing back against the idea that McGill and Concordia are contributing to the decline of the French language, nor is he suggesting that tuition increases or language requirements for students cannot be imposed,' Vacante argued in an op-ed submitted to The Gazette in April. The judge is 'suggesting, rather, that the government can impose such policies only after it has offered compelling data to justify their necessity,' wrote Vacante, author of a National Manhood and the Creation of Modern Quebec.
Boston Globe
29-05-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
The Hiker Who Couldn't Be Found
But on May 10, a hiking party found human remains off an Adirondack Mountains trail. An autopsy confirmed that they belonged to Léo Dufour, a 22-year-old Canadian university student and experienced hiker whose disappearance more than five months earlier set off an all-out search. It is not yet clear how he died, leaving a mystery: How did such a hardy young man hike into the Adirondacks and never hike out? Whatever happened, it was a reminder that every hiker is always as little as 'one badly sprained ankle away from a serious situation,' said Mark Scott, the owner of Great Range Mountain Guides in the Adirondacks community of Elizabethtown, N.Y. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Dufour arrived in Newcomb, N.Y., on Friday, Nov. 29, to make the roughly 18-mile round trip to the Allen Mountain summit and back in a day. The hike can take four hours or more each way. He was expected home to Vaudreuil-Dorion, a Montreal suburb, by Saturday night. Advertisement Allen is one of the 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks, those with summits at elevations of at least 4,000 feet. It is not the highest, but it is probably the most remote — a long, flat approach for 7 miles or so, and then a mile and a half of steep climbing on a rough trail. Advertisement Hiking solo at any time has its risks, but late November 'is definitely a dicey time to go out, because the situations can be so different from the start to the finish,' said Tony Goodwin, the longtime, now retired, executive director of the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society. Dufour was slightly built, at 5-foot-7 and about 150 pounds, but he was no rookie. He had been to the top of 32 high peaks, putting him well on his way to becoming a 46er: someone who has summited them all. He memorialized each summit reached with panoramic videos posted on his social media accounts. But something went wrong this time. When he was overdue coming home, his father contacted authorities. What followed was an extraordinary search involving 59 rangers scouring hundreds of rugged backcountry miles in deep snow and frigid temperatures for more than a week. That Sunday morning, Dec. 1, New York State Police found Dufour's snow-covered car near a trail that leads to the Allen trailhead. A trail register showed that he had signed in with a one-day hike planned. He was the only person to sign in that day. When he set out, he had on La Sportiva hiking boots, a black Arc'teryx coat, black shell pants, a tan winter hat, and reflective sunglasses. His gear also included a North Face backpack, snowshoes, ice cleats, extra clothing layers, mittens, an iPhone, a headlamp, a phone charger, a stove, and noodles. His equipment suggests he was not unprepared for the hike he had planned and underscores how unusual it is that he wound up in mortal danger. Rangers found a set of tracks leading from the car toward the summit. It was one of a few fleeting clues, and of little help. Snowfall had made the tracks impossible to follow. Advertisement The rangers searched in shifts for more than eight days, exploring nearly 400 miles of dangerous terrain at steep elevations: tight drainages, thick forest, cliff ledges, and swampy lowlands. Temperatures fell below zero. The wind was fierce. At times, searchers were swimming in chest-deep snow. Dufour's last known location was near the Allen summit, his destination. Searchers found his water bottle above 3,500 feet and detected two spots on the hike where his cellphone had been. Everything else was unknown. Was he injured in a fall? Did he stray from the trail after becoming disoriented because of hypothermia? Did he simply miss a turn? On the search's eighth day, with little hope left of finding him alive, rangers had to divert their attention to rescue a man who had crashed his car after driving from Quebec to look for Dufour, the Adirondack Explorer website reported. The next day, Dec. 9, state officials said the search was shifting from rescue to recovery mode and that the active effort was being suspended because of 'treacherous conditions.' 'It is no longer safe for anyone to continue searching using the methods and strategies in place since Dec. 1,' the Department of Environmental Conservation said. Months passed. Winter turned to spring. The snow melted away. And then the hikers made their morbid discovery off Allen Mountain trail. Dufour's family could not be reached for comment, but confirmation of his death landed hard with those who had become invested in his plight. That was especially so in his native Quebec, even among people who did not know him, but shared his love of hiking New York's mountains. Advertisement Dufour had been studying to become a teacher. He had an internship during the 2023-24 school year at Ecole Cité-des-Jeunes in his hometown, where his mother also taught, said Chayi Beaulieu, a social worker at the school that year. Beaulieu described Dufour as 'vibey' and 'laid-back.' 'All the kids loved him,' she said. Andréanne Villeneuve-Dubuc got to know him at a different school, École Saint-Thomas, in Hudson, Quebec, where he filled in for the regular gym teacher at the end of the year. Villeneuve-Dubuc, a special education teacher, said Dufour had 'a special kind of presence. You wanted to be around him.' A hiker herself, she called it 'a beautiful, soul-nourishing sport, but one that requires vigilance.' As a tribute to Dufour, Villeneuve-Dubuc plans to hike Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest mountain. It was something they had talked about doing together. 'I'll carry him with me every step of the way,' she said. This article originally appeared in
Global News
13-05-2025
- Global News
A Quebec hiker was found dead in the New York mountains. Here's what we know
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Nearly six months after a Quebec hiker vanished in the Adirondack Mountains, New York state authorities confirmed the discovery of his body over the weekend. The body of Leo Dufour, a 22-year-old man from Vaudreuil, Que., a suburb west of Montreal, was found off Allen Mountain trail in Essex County, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirmed in a statement Sunday. U.S. officials say it was a group of hikers that found his remains on Saturday morning and reported it to authorities. New York State Police responded to the scene, working alongside forest rangers and a DEC investigator. On Sunday, they confirmed the man's identity. The DEC offered its condolences to Dufour's family and thanked forest rangers for their tireless efforts in the last few months. Story continues below advertisement The 22-year-old was reported missing after he never returned home from a one-day hike on Nov. 30, 2024. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Police found his snow-covered car at the trailhead in December, but said tracking him was tough due to the recent snowfall. Search parties from multiple agencies looked for him over several weeks, but were ultimately forced to suspend the effort as worsening winter conditions made the search too dangerous to continue during the months that followed. They resumed this spring after snow receded across the Adirondack backcountry. Dufour had travelled to the U.S. to hike the Allen Mountain in the town of Newcomb on Nov. 29, 2024. '46ers club': Dufour had climbed 32 of the 46 Adirondack high peaks His social media profile said he was a student at Université de Montréal and showed him enjoying the outdoors. He posted photos and videos of himself doing a lot of hiking, camping, enjoying the beach and travelling Europe. One album on his Instagram profile titled '46ers Club' showed he had climbed 32 of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks — a group of mountains in New York state, each rising at least 4,000 feet in elevation. Story continues below advertisement The ambitious goal of summiting all 46 peaks is a popular challenge among avid hikers. His last documented hike in the album was Mount Colden — the 11th-highest peak in New York, with an elevation of 4,714 feet. Allen Mountain, where his body was found, is the 26th-highest of the Adirondack High Peaks, with an elevation of 4,340 feet. –with files from The Canadian Press
