AI disclosure statement: QuillBot for grammar checking.
Listen to the whole story here:
Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students joined a province-wide walkout on Nov. 5 over concerns about Ontario’s post-secondary funding policies, including OSAP, tuition, and student services. The demonstration was part of the Canadian Federation of Students’ (CFS) Hands Off Our Education campaign, which organized student unions across Ontario to take action on their campuses.
The Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) organized participation, bringing about hundreds of students together at Lake Devo on campus.
“An attack on one student is actually an attack on all students,” said Teresa Baricevic, TMSU’s vice-president of education, in an interview ahead of the walk-out. Baricevic also spoke at Lake Devo in front of the crowd, as did Zain Baig, TMSU’s president, and Omar Mousa, national representative of the CFS Ontario.
“For decades, students have been paying the price of a post-secondary education system that has been chronically underfunded,” Mousa told the crowd.
Other students in Ontario participated in their own walkouts, including students at the University of Toronto, York University, and the University of Guelph.
He criticized the provincial government’s decision to end the tuition freeze and reduce OSAP funding, arguing that students were already struggling to afford tuition, rent, groceries, and other necessities.
“Students did not create the crisis, and we will not be the ones who pay for it,” he said.
Mousa also told demonstrators that student representatives had just come back from meeting with several members of the provincial parliament at Queen’s Park and had requested a meeting with Nolan Quinn, whom he referred to as “the very minister responsible for the OSAP changes.”
According to Mousa, the minister declined their request. Upon hearing this, students booed in unison.
“The minister and government responsible for cutting OSAP won’t even sit down to meet with the students that are being affected by their [own] changes,” Mousa said.
He urged students to continue mobilizing, arguing that with a united voice, students could still reach provincial officials.
“If they refuse to meet with us in the halls of Queen’s Park, it’s okay because we will make those walls shake. We’ll make the entire province shake. We’ll make everything shake until we get our free education,” he said.
The demonstration also garnered the attention of Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles and Toronto Centre MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, who spoke with students and media at the protest.
In a statement released on Nov. 5, Stiles expressed support for students participating in demonstrations across Ontario and criticized the provincial government’s response to concerns about financial assistance.
“We called on Doug Ford to come up with a plan to provide immediate relief to students who need financial assistance. He and his government refused. They’ve made it clear that they have no interest in helping the Ontario students they’ve pulled the rug out from under. Now, the Premier has no choice but to hear their voices,” she said in the press release.
Wong-Tam also expressed support for the walkout in a Facebook post, criticizing the Ford government’s spending priorities while students struggle with the cost of living and education.
“He’s taking money from our education. He’s taking money from the people and putting it in the pockets of his rich friends, and it’s infuriating as the people,” said Zach Madge, a social work student at TMU who attended the walkout.
Madge also expressed frustration over delays in financial assistance, describing how a friend attending a private university had yet to receive OSAP funding despite it already being November.
For other students participating in the walkout, concerns extended beyond the immediate changes to OSAP funding.
Adriana Canale, a student at TMU, said she joined the protest because she wanted education to become more affordable and was concerned that government policies were creating additional financial barriers.
“How are you going to have future doctors, future nurses, like essential jobs in this world without education?” she asked. “You’re only giving students who are wealthy or well-off to do it. You’re putting barriers on education.”
In an interview with On The Record ahead of the protest, TMU president Mohamed Lachemi acknowledged the financial pressures facing students and said the university was working to provide additional financial assistance.
“That’s why we have been working so hard to find additional financial support for students, such as the McCall McBain Community Health Awards at TMU,” Lachemi said. “It was a $10 million scholarship program for TMU students in high-demand, patient-facing fields, including nursing, midwifery, social work, public health, and nutrition. We know how important it is to support our students, and we hope to announce more scholarship programs in the future,” he added.
As the demonstration came to an end, students dispersed from Lake Devo, with the TMSU organizing a post-walkout gathering at the Met Campus Pub, where participants were offered free lunch and snacks.
Although the gathering concluded, organizers emphasized that the Nov. 5 walkout was not intended to be the end of their efforts.
“Today isn’t the end. It is another step,” Mousa told the crowd. “We are going to continue organizing, mobilizing, and showing up with even more numbers until this government gets their hands off our education.”
Reporter, OTR, F2026.
Julia Pen is a fourth-year journalism student and storyteller for, On The Record, fall 2026.
Reporter, OTR, F2026.
