Students without supports due to ongoing strike at St. Clair College

A St Clair student with disabilities is sharing her impact from the college strike. CTV’s Bob Bellacicco has her story.

The OPSEU strike is continuing at colleges across Ontario. Students are speaking out, expressing their frustrations now that they are without support.

“If you really cared about the students like everybody has claimed they do, you could find another way,” said Rebecca Lampman.

Around 10,000 full-time support staff members are on the picket line and have been since Sept. 11. They are fighting for better wages, benefits, and job security.

A student with an invisible disability is saying she is caught in the crossfire, feeling the brunt of the disruption.

“Usually, the accommodation requires me to write in Student Services, where I can sit there and have noise cancelling headphones on, along with other students that have the same,” said Montana Hannona.

She is a second-year paralegal student and said she used to get an extra half hour to write tests, with breaks in the controlled and supervised area.

“The whole idea was supposed to be a room that is quiet and has less students,” she said.

“It was full of students because they have to combine students from different campuses in one room.”

Hannona said she can’t rely on printing services or the availability of quiet rooms.

Lampman said she feels IT support is now unreliable and parking is an issue.

“Even though we’re paying for parking here, we now have to pay for parking down there,” she said.

“We’d have to go right in a building that we’re not familiar with, that we don’t know.”

Both of the students said they have paid for college services they’re not getting anymore, and they know a refund is unlikely.

“We do pay for these services through our tuition, so when you’re calling for assistance, it’s a delayed response because they don’t have staff there to help and it’s affecting our academic success and studies,” Hannona said.

In a statement to CTV News, the college said:

“We are aware that there are impacts of the strike on our students. Individual student needs require a deeper understanding, and we are working with our student government to serve the needs of our students.”