LaSalle College, a private bilingual general and vocational college (CEGEP), admitted last December to surpassing the 716-student quota for 2023-2024 and the 1,066-student threshold for 2024-2025 set by Bill 96. Effective since 2022, the bill amended the Charter of the French Language regarding the distribution of anglophone students enrolled in CEGEP’s Attestation of College Studies (ACS) and Diploma of College Studies (DCS) programs. This is penalizable by reducing government funding to the private college, which includes some of the operating costs and tuition, under chapter C-11, r. 13 of the Charter of the French Language. As a result, the college has requested negotiations with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEES) of Quebec in a letter to Ministers Déry and Roberge, dated December 9, 2024, to provide a “transition period for 2024-2025” to allow them to become fully compliant this fall.
The president and CEO of LaSalle College, Claude Marchand, told CBC that negotiations between the school and educational ministers have been delayed since August 2021. Marchand hoped to negotiate with the new minister Premier François Legault before August 18, when faculty returned to the college. The lack of negotiation prompted a cancellation of the first day of classes on August 25, which resumed the next day in order to catch the minister’s attention. In the meantime, the institution is challenging MEES’s fine of $30 million in a case submitted in July 2024 to the Quebec Superior Court. The college further challenges the data used in MEES’s decision. LaSalle claims this challenge was indirectly validated by Superior Court of Quebec Judge Éric Dufour’s 2023 verdict that out-of-province tuition hikes triggered by Bill 96 at McGill and Concordia were “not justified by existing and convincing data”. In the case of LaSalle College, a student expressed concern over the government’s financial threat, admitting in an interview with CityNews, “I’m worried that either they’re going to shut down the school because of lack of funding or make our tuition much higher, which is obviously going to be higher on everyone,” not exclusively for international /out-of-province students.
As the only private CEGEP penalized by the government, “[i]t’s really our belief that we did nothing wrong,” said Marchand in an interview with the CBC. However, other private CEGEPs negotiated their quotas, and LaSalle College did receive warnings concerning the penalization of their misconduct. On one hand, LaSalle College defended themselves on their website, explaining that the timing of the February 2023 quotas followed after the admission of international students, which are done a year prior to the commencement of the school year. Thus, applicants had already been legally admitted for the fall of 2023 prior to the quota amendments, and as a result, the institution had a responsibility to not cancel the students’ contracts. On the other hand, the college also admitted on their website to having prior knowledge of the quotas and exceeding them. This is in line with MEES’s statement to CBC that the college “knowingly broke the law.” In other words, the court must now decide if LaSalle College’s misconduct with Quebec’s language laws warrants avoiding the potential illegality of rejecting students after their admissions contract.
Moreover, the monetary penalties totaling $30 million threaten the institution itself, as the sum makes up almost half of the college’s annual $70 million budget. The penalty for 2023-2024 totals $8.7 million and just over 21 million for 2024-2025 , as confirmed by the Minister of Higher Education in letters dated June 28, 2024, and June 30, 2025, to LaSalle College, which can be found on the college’s website. The college responded on December 9, 2024, asking the government for an “impact analysis” and a “rescue plan.” They explain that, under fines, the students’ education would suffer as collateral and the staff’s employment would be at risk, threatening the service of specialized programs like hospitality services, as well as fashion and video game programming, which they claim are rarely offered in other CEGEPs and feed into Quebec’s labour force. Fewer international students would also decrease Quebec’s footprint, particularly in the African Francophonie and in the LCI Education network that spans across ten countries.
Marchand further described the MEES’s monetary penalties as “abusive,” while the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, described the college’s protest as holding students “hostage,” especially after the MEES offered alternative negotiations that did not involve delaying the first day of school. Nonetheless, the College sent a discretionary email to its students on August 25 to inform them of the cancellation of classes and that despite this, the campus would still be open. The notice explained that, as a private institution subsidized by the Quebec government, LaSalle College could not continue to service their students when the government “assumes 40 percent of the cost for each Quebec student” and would not continue doing so to the same extent considering the penalties imposed. It is important to note that, according to LaSalle College, the CEGEP has not asked for additional subsidies for international students, which was disclosed in a letter to the Minister of French Language.
While the CBC reports that LaSalle College has adjusted their numbers for this fall per Bill 96’s quotas, negotiations regarding penalties are still underway as Minister Déry called Marchand back to negotiations as classes resumed.