Toronto’s rally was one of over 50 across Canada; protests also took place in New York, Dallas, San Francisco, and London, England.
Thousands flocked to Yonge-Dundas Square on Saturday, Jan. 23, waving signs denouncing Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to suspend Parliament until March 3. The rally organized by the Facebook group Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament drew an estimated 3,000 in Toronto. Protests took place in over 50 Canadian cities and towns, with expats carrying out protests in New York, Dallas, San Francisco, and London, England.
Advertised as a “non-partisan, family-friendly” event, the crowd included a mix of ages, with families marching alongside students, seniors, and at least one puppy in a jacket and hat.
“I don’t want [my] new country to become like my old country,” said comedian Martha Chaves, who emceed the event. Chaves is from Nicaragua, which she said had become a dictatorship.
“I have been an activist for over 40 years, and I have never seen a spontaneous protest that built like this,” said activist Judy Rebick, one of the featured speakers. Other speakers included Marie Kelley, secretary-treasurer from the Ontario Federation of Labour, and Duff Conacher from Democracy Watch.
Notable performers included the Raging Grannies and the Wolf Woman Singers.
“When you have Mohawk grandmothers at Yonge-Dundas Square in the middle of winter, you better be afraid, Harper,” said one singer.
At 2 p.m. protestors shut down traffic as they marched down Yonge Street, turning on Queen West, Bay, and College streets to loop back to the square.
“A lot of media pundits thought you can’t organize a protest using Facebook. We proved them wrong,” said Walied Khogali, protest organizer and U of T student, to a cheering crowd. A commitment on Facebook does not always translate to commitment on the ground. The recent protest against the college strike had hundreds RSVP on Facebook, but only a handful of students showed up.
“This started out as small, involved group in the first week of January. Our first meeting was at Old City Hall on January 8 and it snowballed from there,” said Jonathan Allan, spokesperson for the Toronto chapter of CAPP.
Over 200 volunteers helped plan the Toronto protest, passing out leaflets, making signs, and booking space for the rally. Justin Arjoon, a second-year student studying molecular plant biology at U of T, was one of the first to get involved and became the head organizer for the Toronto rally. “There will be future protests. That is a certainty,” said Arjoon.
Plans include more rallies across major Canadian cities and an Olympic-style torch run across Canada.
Comments
Yeah, because Harper is really doing nothing right now. His swift and meaningful reaction to the Haiti earthquake, and pledge to match every Canadian donation dollar for dollar clearly means nothing. You guys are right- let's get back to work fixing Haiti.
Jan 26, 2010 at 02:59 PM
As President of the UofT Liberals, it was a pleasure to attend the anti-prorogation rally on Saturday. The anti-Harper movement is building across the country. The high attendance at the rallies are evidence of that -- and so are the polls that show the Liberals in a statistical tie with the Harper Conservatives. Our job as UofT Liberals is now to continue to engage with Canadians, especially students on the UofT campus, and continue the conversation about how we need a Prime Minister committed to accountability -- a Prime Minister who has built his career writing about democracy and human rights. That man is Michael Ignatieff.
There was, however, one important failure that the rally should have avoided. I was able to capture some photgraphs of PAID NDP STAFF handing out big orange signs with NDP logos to the crowd at the non-partisan event -- it made the protest look partisan and will allow Harper to dismiss it as a bunch of irrelevant New Democrats, which it certainly wasn't. This was a choice for which the NDP should be held accountable; Their attempted hijack of a non-partisan event put its core message in peril.
Jan 27, 2010 at 09:50 AM
I can confirm what Gabe is saying in the second paragraph. It was the only sour note in the whole rally. Colour and party neutral signs that state "Democracy Works" would have been preferable.
Also, Marie Kelly, Secretary-Treasurer for the Ontario Federation of Labour, said everyone should vote NDP, which got mixed reactions from the crowd.
Overall, I think the organizers did their best, but hopefully the next event will be more non-partisan.
Jan 27, 2010 at 10:50 AM
Rachel, I think that it was commendable that Harper's government took action on Haiti. The aid efforts have been somewhat unorganized and chaotic, and I was glad they stepped in to show leadership.
That being said, this was about the first time in a long time I wasn't embarrassed to call myself Canadian. There have been plenty of global efforts (responding to natural disasters, Copenhagen, etc.) where Harper's government has shown no leadership. Canada has totally lost any sense of being a guiding light for other nations.
But it would be foolish to think that this couldn’t have taken place if parliament was sitting.
It would be even more foolish to think Harper's actions on Haiti are altruistic; he's clearly looking for votes after his popularity dropped immensely (Canadians were not stupid enough to let this slip: they know this is anti-democratic and are downright pissed). Harper is simply glad this disaster had taken him out of the headlines and will try anything to make himself seem more popular.
While I celebrate that Haiti is being given some of the much-needed help it needs, I'm glad most Canadians aren't stupid enough to fall for Harper's game.
Jan 27, 2010 at 06:50 PM
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