Content warning: death, violence

September 13 marks twenty years since the 2006 shooting at the Dawson College CEGEP, where one student was killed and 19 others were injured. Two decades later, families and survivors are citing the anniversary to argue that Canada’s legal approach to gun control remains unresolved.

In an open letter, families of survivors and victims called upon the federal government to act on three commitments: completing the ban and removing assault-style firearms, closing the large- capacity magazine loopholes, and strengthening the oversight of handgun exemptions. Their demands ensued decades after major shootings in Quebec triggered debates over firearm regulations. Debates that have been reignited by thousands demonstrating against federal firearm restrictions in Quebec City earlier this year.

The gun control debate precedes the Dawson tragedy. A debate that came to the forefront nationally after the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre where 14 women were killed in a misogynist attack. In its aftermath, the Coalition for Gun Control was formed. In 1995, the federal government adopted Bill C-68 which established the Firearms Act and expanded requirements surrounding licensing and registration.

By the time the Dawson shooting took place eleven years later, Canada already had a significantly broader federal firearm regulation. However, the attack renewed questions about what kinds of firearms could legally circulate in the country and whether further restrictions were necessary.

In 2023, the federal government made the handgun freeze permanent. Under the measure, new handgun registration certificates cannot be issued to individuals. This prevents most new purchases, sales, and transfers, while allowing people who previously owned handguns to retain them. The legislation also expanded the Criminal Code’s definition of prohibited firearms and introduced additional measures related to illegally manufactured firearms and licences in cases involving domestic violence.

Quebec also maintains firearm regulations of its own. Since 2018, the province has operated the Quebec Firearms Registration Service (SIAF). Most firearm owners in Quebec are required to register their firearms with the provincial system, in addition to meeting federal licensing requirements. Prohibited and restricted firearms, however, are registered federally rather than through the SIAF. The distinction means that what is often described broadly as “Quebec gun law” is actually a combination of provincial and federal regulations.

One of the largest ongoing disputes concerns assault-style firearms. The Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program was created to compensate eligible owners who surrender prohibited firearms. Owners who did not participate must dispose of or permanently deactivate affected firearms by October 30 of this year.

For gun control advocates, the removal of these firearms is one of the commitments that remains incomplete. For opponents of the program, however, it has become a symbol of what they view as unfair restrictions on legal firearm owners.

Moreover, this disagreement came into public view on February 28, when several thousand protesters from Quebec and the rest of Canada gathered outside the National Assembly in Quebec City to oppose the federal program. At the demonstration, Sophie Béland, the provincial director of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights, argued that the program unfairly targets legal firearm owners who are not involved in crime. Other participants described themselves as hunters and sport shooters concerned about losing legally acquired property.

PolySeSouvient, a gun- control advocacy group formed by survivors and families affected by the École Polytechnique massacre, criticized the movement opposing the removal program. The advocacy group argued that the firearms covered by the ban had been prohibited for public safety reasons.

The February protest also raised another question about the shifting discourse of firearm politics in Quebec. Some arguments made around the demonstration emphasized owning firearms for self- defence. This framing is particularly associated with gun politics in the United States, where firearm ownership is constitutionally protected. La Presse investigative journalist, Tristan Péloquin, argued that American political discourse surrounding firearms has increasingly influenced Canadian gun owners, particularly on the idea of possessing firearms for personal protection. This does not necessarily mean that Quebec’s gun regulations are becoming comparable to that of the United States; however, the language used to defend gun ownership in Quebec may be starting to change.

Twenty years after Dawson, the anniversary arrives in the middle of an ongoing debate. This debate that has shifted as Canada and Quebec have introduced layers of firearm regulation that did not exist at the time of earlier mass shootings, while the federal government continues to determine how some of the newest restrictions will be implemented.

For the families and survivors of the Dawson College shooting, September 13 is not only a day of remembrance but also a time to make distinctions between the passing of legislation and its implementations. This renewed distinction places the question facing governments in the present, twenty years later: not only regarding how much gun control policy has changed since 2006, but how much of it remains unresolved.

The post Two Decades After the Tragedy appeared first on The McGill Daily.

These differences in cost are continually shaped by provincial politics. In 2023, the Quebec government announced higher tuition requirements for out-of- province Canadian students at English-language universities such as McGill and Concordia, alongside new French-language measures. McGill and Concordia challenged some parts of these policies in court with the Quebec Superior Court delivering its verdict in April 2025. The court ruled the measures unreasonable, finding that the government had not provided sufficient evidence to justify the tuition increase and that the French-language target was nearly impossible to achieve. While the French-language requirement was struck down, Quebec revised its tuition policy and chose to maintain the higher fees in January 2026. The increased out-of-province rates remain in effect for the 2026- 2027 academic year. While students may attend the same university, take the same courses, and may even sit beside each other in the same lecture hall, their different hometowns means they’ll pay dramatically different fees for the same university experience. Tuition, however, is only the beginning of this problem.

The variation in cost of attending McGill as an out-of-province or international student
is also significant, particularly when it comes to the choice of living in residence for first year. At New Residence Hall, for example, a regular double room costs $1,575 a month per
student while a single room costs $1,800. Students also have to purchase a mandatory $6,150 meal plan alongside other residence fees.

Cheaper options exist, such as Solin Hall, where rooms start at $1,135 a month and students cook for themselves; however, they must commute to campus. Some first-years also choose to live off-campus, while local Quebec students who can stay with family may avoid housing costs altogether. For a first-year student already adjusting to university life, these costs can make life in Montreal feel very different from the affordable city they may have imagined.

The rental situation outside residence is more complicated. After years of increasing prices, Montreal’s rental market has begun to show some signs of cooling. Statistics Canada reported that the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment fell 5.2 per cent between the second quarters of 2025 and 2026. Still, this does not mean that housing has suddenly become affordable for students. Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation reported that rents rose 7.2 per cent in 2025 and that the city’s most affordable units remained particularly difficult to find. Students already working with limited budgets do not necessarily feel the effects of a cooling rental market following years of increasing housing costs.

McGill itself recommends Milton-Parc, downtown, and the Lower Plateau for students who want to stay close to campus, while pointing students looking to save money towards neighbourhoods such as Verdun, NDG, Hochelaga, Villeray and Parc-Extension. The latter set of options are farther away and are therefore cheaper at the cost of a longer commute.

The most obvious response to rising student expenses is often what I like to label as the “just get a job” choir. While people will often give this response to students facing financial troubles, the solution is not always as simple as it sounds. Montreal cut 21,000 jobs in August alone, while the city’s unemployment rate stood at 6.5 per cent. Although this was comparable to Toronto’s 6.7 per cent and Vancouver’s 6.5 per cent, the sharp monthly loss of employment points to a difficult job market for students who are looking for work. The unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 was 12.9 per cent, and among students planning to return to school it was 15.6 per cent nation- wide. For students who do not speak French, the search can be even more limited, 28 per cent of English- speaking adults in Quebec who had recently applied for a job or promotion felt they had been unsuccessful because of language-related reasons.

Working a part-time job during university can be a valuable experience for many students, yet there is a difference between choosing to work part-time for extra cash and depending on a job to afford the costs of university. These hours spent working to afford one’s studies are lost hours that could have been spent studying, participating in clubs, volunteering or simply resting. McGill does provide financial support to its students. Based on university data, McGill offered more than $6.2 million in entrance scholarships to over 2,000 students in its most recent admission cycle. It also distributed $6.3 million in need- based entrance bursaries to 550 incoming students with average bursary amounts increasing in accordance to tuition status. Even though these programs make university possible for students who might otherwise struggle to attend, the existence of financial aid does not erase the larger question of whether the cost of university itself has become increasingly difficult to manage.

Quebec is not unfamiliar with this question. In 2012, thousands of students wore red felt or fabric squares and marched in what became known as the Printemps Érable, or Maple Spring. The protest was mainly organized to oppose planned increases to university tuition as well as concerns surrounding student debt and access to education. The movement secured a key victory in September 2012, when Pauline Marois’ newly elected Parti Quebecois government cancelled the planned tuition increases, fulfilling a central demand of the student strike. Fourteen years later, tuition remains part of the affordability debate but has now grown more pertinent alongside issues such as rising rent, food security, employment, residence costs, and the disparity of costs across many demographics of students.

Montreal is still less expensive than many other major North American university cities. Both these things can be true, while still keeping the door open for debate regarding affordability for the city’s student population. For an international student paying substantially higher tuition, a student relying on part-time work, or someone trying to cover rent without family support, life in the same city, at the same university, can look completely different.

If Montreal wants to continue defining itself as a student city, affordability should mean more than simply being cheaper than somewhere else. It should also mean that the students can realistically and comfortably afford to live and study here.

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