Our student union had failed to negotiate or confront the juggernaut of Ralph Klein's conservative government. This government drastically cut education funding and refused to reduce the cap on tuition hikes. The university administration had turned students' tuition and user fees into cash cows to absorb the cuts. We decided to rouse students from the filthy habit of apathy to fight for access to quality education. Soon we discovered that what we said made sense to students around us.
Young people are sick of being called slackers and whiners.
And we are sick of having our schools turned into job training institutes. Education is about tapping all aspects of human potential, not becoming more effective wage slaves. They became known as the Hull Seven. After over a year of delays and appearances, the Quebec courts dropped the charges against three of the protesters in August 1997. The other four, however have gone underground .