protest

Convoy heads to Ottawa to protest carbon tax

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Charles Dickson, LJI Reporter

Twenty-one people in a nine-vehicle convoy left Shawville just after 9 a.m. on Monday, heading for Ottawa to register a complaint with the federal government over the carbon tax increase which came into force that same day.

“We’re hoping a whole bunch of people will come out and speak their mind about how the carbon tax is affecting their affordability in life,” said convoy organizer Ralph Lang, a farmer based in Clarendon who tills thousands of acres across the Pontiac. “Hopefully, there’s a lot on the Hill,” he said.
Lang said the convoy, which included a tractor, two transport truck cabs, four pickups and two cars, would be escorted by police and parked near the Museum of History in the Hull sector of Gatineau, where the Pontiac delegation would walk across the bridge and up to Parliament Hill.

Asked what he sees as an alternative to the carbon tax as a means of tackling the climate change problem, Lang said, “Carbon is sequestered by crops, and they’re trying to cut us back on growing better crops by controlling our nitrogen and every other step of the way. And now they’re saying cattle are the problem. But I’m just a farmer and not a politician.”
“Everything’s kind of come to a head,” said Scott Lemay. “I mean it’s tax, tax, tax, and your rights and freedoms,” he said in the parking lot next to Highway 148 before the convoy set off.
“I think, for us it’s really our kids and our future,” said Ronda Richardson, Lemay’s spouse. “Our kids can barely afford to save money to build a future. The cost of living, it’s just killing us. The gas, the groceries …”

“Something has to change. It affects everyone,” Lemay chimed in. “The only way to fix it is to change the government. That’s a start. I’m not convinced that even changing the government is really going to do a lot, but I guess it’s a start.”
One of the pickup trucks sported a sign across its tailgate bearing the “Axe the tax” slogan popularized by Pierre Poilievre.

“I don’t trust any of them,” Lang said with a laugh at the mention of the Conservative leader. “But it’s a good start, and it got people together. And that’s what today will be about, is getting like-minded people gathered and show that we’re not alone, that people are all fed up.”
“The main thing is the impact on the wallet,” said Clarendon dairy farmer Robbie Beck. “Everybody wants us to make food cheaper and cheaper, but it keeps getting harder and harder to do that. So, we’ll show our side of the story in numbers and see what happens.”
“In farming we face a lot of environmental regulations. We all want to do a good job stewarding the land, but there’s some of them that go a little bit beyond what makes sense and affects the economics of how we can provide our goods affordably.”

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Pro-Palestinian protesters continue demanding for a ceasefire

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Speakers commence the demonstration at Dorchester Square on March 24, 2024. Photo by Ellie Wand

Ellie Wand & Finn Tennyson Lean
Local Journalism Initiative

On March 23, hundreds of protesters gathered in Dorchester Square to protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

The demonstration was the first protest organized by la Coalition du Québec URGENCE Palestine, a newly formed coalition of pro-Palestinian organizations from Quebec. The coalition was supported by 228 organizations, including The Confédération des syndicats nationaux and the FTQ, as well as political parties such as Québec Solidaire and the Communist Party of Québec.

“We thought that it was important that we do something to express our ideas, to express our solidarity with the Palestinian people, and to protest against the action or inaction of our government,” said Diane Lamoureux, an administration committee member of the Ligue des droits et libertés, one of the member organizations of the coalition.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, over 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023. Humanitarian aid is still facing blockades and is unable to reach many Palestinians, despite funding from countries around the world, including Turkey, the U.A.E, and Egypt. Canada pledged $40 million in aid for Gaza in January 2024, shortly after pausing funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA. In February, the United Nations (UN) warned that a quarter of Gaza’s population is at risk of imminent famine.

The coalition’s focus at the protest was to call for an immediate ceasefire and the safe passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Ellen Gabriel, a Mohawk activist, spoke at the demonstration to urge Quebecers to stand for Palestine in the same way they should stand for Indigenous people. 

“As Indigenous people, we have always known there exists double standards,” said Gabriel. “We see the cracks that Gaza has revealed. When we see something as horrific as is happening in Gaza—the murder, the psychopaths with weapons killing innocent people and children and maiming them—to me, there are no more words to describe the evil that they have been unleashing against the Palestinians.”

Gabriel also spoke about the illegality of the situation in Gaza. “It’s really important for people to show up and call out the hypocrisy of Western states,” she Gabriel. “What they’re doing is not only against the Geneva Convention, but international human rights law, and I think they should be held to account not just by the people who are here.”

On March 23, the secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, visited Cairo, Egypt, where he restated the UN’s support for a ceasefire in Palestine. Despite international pressure, Israel rejected ceasefire terms proposed by Hamas in February.

On March 25, the UN Security Council voted in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan. 14 votes were cast in support, including Canada. The United States abstained. 

According to The Associated Press, around 80 per cent of people in Gaza have had to leave their homes since Oct. 7, 2023. Following military operations in the northern part of Gaza, people have fled south towards Egypt. 

Ghida, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Youth Movement, who did not wish to reveal her last name for safety reasons, has been organizing weekly protests in Montreal since October. She said that sustained pressure—in any form—is essential for change. “We should always be demanding more,” she said. “I would never underestimate any form of action. Everything is important because a movement needs different action to be a movement.”

Just two weeks ago, on March 9, protestors gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the National March for Gaza, which was said to have been one of the largest pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the city.

“You shouldn’t be an activist by yourself,” said Ghida. “Join a movement, join your local neighbourhood organization, because we can only put pressure as a collective.”

Hélène Denoncourt, who has been active in different forms of protests since she was a teenager, attended the demonstration with her friend, Johanne Laplante. While they both believe protests help to show solidarity and build community, they think politicians have the real power to affect change. 

“It’s to be together,” said Denocourt when asked why she was attending the protest. “It’s to feel that you’re not alone.”

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Pro-Palestinian protesters barricade IDF reserve soldiers’ event

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Photo Hannah Bell

Maria Cholakova
Local Journalism Initiative

On March 4, over 150 pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the entrance of the Federation CJA building, to protest three Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers speaking at a StartUp Nation hosted event. 

The original event was set to occur on Concordia University’s campus. Due to backlash, the event was cancelled but was later moved to CJA.

Although CJA didn’t release the address of the event until 6 p.m. on March 4, a half hour before the start of the talk, the address was leaked on social media. 

The Link had a ticket and a media pass, and had confirmed our attendance by phone, yet was not allowed to enter the CJA building.

Along with Solidarity for Human Rights Concordia (SPHRConU) and Montreal4Palestine, Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) Concordia joined the protesters to stand in solidarity with Palestine. 

During a speech by IJV members, the speakers condemned the event being hosted in front of the Holocaust Museum. 

“To hold an event like this, at a space that commemorates one of the worst acts of humanity, is an insult to the victims of the Holocaust our ancestors and the Jewish people,” said the speaker. “Being an anti-zionist Jew often means standing against our own communities, which we were once a part of, and taking a critical look at the institutions we were once connected to, but refuse to anymore.” 

Several times during the night, Israeli on-lookers agitated pro-Palestinian protesters, flashing them the middle finger, calling them names and becoming increasingly violent. At around 7 p.m., a woman shoved a pro-Palestinian protester and hit their camera. 

During the protest, several speakers took turns to speak to the crowd. Palestinian activists encouraged protesters to stay calm, keep blocking the doors and not get agitated by on-lookers. 

The protest was monitored heavily by police, with over six police cars surrounding the building and streets. 

Demonstrators blocked all three entrances and demanded that IDF soldiers not be let into Montreal.

According to a protester, who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons, IDF soldiers shouldn’t be allowed in Montreal. “We are talking about soldiers that only a few weeks back were killing children, civilians, conducting war crimes, [yet] they are just invited to an event like they are guests,” said the protester. They continued to urge the Canadian government to sanction and stop their support for Israel. 

The sentiment was echoed by other participants. According to Laith Barghouthi, SPHRConU “[Organizers] are still brainwashed thinking that IDF soldiers… are heroes of some sort. They are genocide enablers, they are killing children… they are doing all sorts of evil crimes,” Barghouthi said.

Montreal4Palestine, SPHRConU and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) all released statements about the event by the night’s end. 

In a statement released after the event, Montreal4Palestine accused the SPVM of being hostile and threatening towards protesters. “This behaviour is not an isolated case. It is part of a broader context of police brutality and systemic racism against racialized people in Montreal,” read the statement.

In addition, SPHRConU condemned the location of the IDF event, stating, “Hosting soldiers under investigation for genocide by the International Court of Justice in a place of rememberance for genocide victims is a new low, even for the Zionist entity.”

During the protest, CIJA also released their statement, calling the pro-Palestinian protesters an “aggressive and physically intimidating mob.” The statement further demanded the SPVM to make arrests, citing that calling for “intifada,” which translates to ‘uprising’ in Arabic, is terrorism against civilians and not a peaceful protest. 

With files from Julissa Hurtado, Hannah Bell and Nadia Liboneye

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100,000 protesters rally in Ottawa for Palestine

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Photo Dorothy Mombrun

Iness Rifay & Hannah Vogan
Local Journalism Initiative

In his eight years of bus driving, Mourae Mouassine feels he has never taken a more important contract than the drive from Montreal to Ottawa on Nov. 25.

“This is more than work,” he said, seated in the school bus driver’s seat with a keffiyeh hanging from his shoulders. “I am proud to be here to support humanity.”

Mouassine was one of the bus drivers who volunteered with Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) to mobilize protesters from across Canada to Parliament Hill. Nine sold-out PYM-affiliated buses departed from Place du Canada around 9:30 a.m., all of which carried about 50 participants per busload.

Mouassine keeps a folder on his phone filled with pictures of the children who have died since the attacks on Gaza started. Between Oct. 7 and Nov. 26, over 6,000 Palestinian children have been killed. Following the collapse of Gaza’s health system, the Health Ministry has been unable to keep a regular count of the casualties, but it believes the toll continues to rise sharply.

“I have four kids,” he said. “Every time I see this murder, I can’t sleep. Imagine if it was my child, my friend’s child, my neighbour’s child; I cannot accept this.”

Upon arriving in Ottawa, Mouassine stood on Parliament Hill alongside his family who drove from Montreal to attend with him. They joined over 100,000 protesters gathered from all around the country in what organizer PYM considers the largest pro-Palestinian protest in Canadian history. 
 
“We are not standing on the hills of Parliament because we think we can convince or appeal to Justin Trudeau or the Canadian government’s morality,” said Yara Shoufani, a PYM member. “We are standing here because we know that by building a movement of the masses, we can force the Canadian government to change its direction.”

Speeches began echoing against the walls of Parliament around 1 p.m., delivered by a variety of speakers. Among them were independent Hamilton Centre member of provincial parliament Sarah Jama, who was removed from the Ontario New Democratic Party caucus; Dr. Tarek Loubani, a medic who worked in Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital; Montreal Mohawk activist Ellen Gabriel and journalist Desmond Cole. 

“We will never be bullied or intimidated into silence while Justin Trudeau and his partners in crime continue to support the genocidal Israeli regime in the slaughter of more than 14,000 people,” Jama said. 

On Nov. 24, Israel granted a four-day ceasefire in Gaza to exchange 50 of the 240 Israeli hostages held by Hamas with 150 Palestinian women and teenagers in Israeli detention. For Loubani, this isn’t enough. 

Loubani shared his experiences with protesters of “sewing up children’s heads” in Gaza without anesthesia prior to the events of Oct. 7. 

“Ceasefire is not my only demand,” Loubani shared with the crowd. “I will not go back to treating patients without tools. I will not go back to making up for the failures of the world to treat our Palestinian brothers, sisters and siblings.”

Protesters began marching through Ottawa at 3:40 p.m., with the demonstration looping back to reestablish its place on Parliament Hill around 5 p.m. Palestinian flags and signs of all sizes waved in the dry, chilly wind. The signs read “stop killing children” and “end the genocide in Gaza.”

Janine—a Palestinian protester who wished to keep her last name anonymous for safety reasons—has witnessed the Israeli occupation first hand. She feels that what is happening in Palestine is unjust, and deserves nothing less than demonstrators to dedicate their Saturday to solidarity. 

“[Our politicians] are the ones who are in control of this situation, they are the ones who are murdering the children—maybe not first hand—but they are not calling for the ceasefire,” said Janine. “For us to be such a huge number in the capital of our country puts a lot of pressure on Justin Trudeau who is complicit.”

English, Arabic, and French chants were loudly, and diligently, repeated throughout the protest. “The people united, will never be defeated,” “From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime,” and “Ceasefire now” were among the chants cried out in unison by the masses.

Jina —who wished to keep her last name anonymous for safety reasons— is another Palestinian protester who wore face paint that read “Free Palestine” on her cheek. Jina partook in the protest because Palestinians “deserve to have a land, and deserve to live in it.” 

Jina recalled how when she was little, she would bear jealousy, as her classmates who weren’t from Canada would share about going home for the summer, while she had to stay. “I couldn’t go home, there’s no such thing for me. I just know that’s a feeling that a lot of other [Palestianians] feel,” expressed Jina. “I don’t think that is a feeling that anyone should feel.”

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Demonstrators gather in support of the Search the Landfill Movement.

Canada’s disregard for Indigenous grief: How Canadian healthcare dismisses Indigenous cultural approaches to well-being

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Demonstrators gather in support of the Search the Landfill Movement. Photo Dorothy Mombrun

Claudia Beaudoin
Local Journalism Initiative

In the face of grief, the pursuit of closure and dignity for loved ones is a process one may seek to attain. For Indigenous communities in Canada, however, it’s a privilege they have often been denied.

Within the heart of these communities, a network of healing and unity continues to flourish, going beyond what the Canadian government can provide.

The shortcomings in the justice system, as highlighted at the MMIWG2S+ vigil in Montreal on Oct. 4, serve as a reminder of the injustices endured by Indigenous communities, both physically and emotionally. 

The healthcare system falls short of effectively tending to these issues.

Among the 94 specific Calls to Action established by the federal government in 2015 following the 2013 Truth and Reconciliation Commission, not one of the seven healthcare-related recommendations for Indigenous communities has been implemented to date. 

This includes recognizing the unique health requirements of Indigenous communities, as specified in Call 20. The call to action encompasses the prevalent health concerns that differ between communities such as the higher rates of tuberculosis or mental health issues. It also involves incorporating their healing practices in their treatments, as outlined in Call 22.

A recurring theme among Indigenous families seeking help is the persistent experience of racism, discrimination or neglect when dealing with authorities. Those who muster the courage to reach out to health or judicial services often receive blame for the situation they are in.

Joyce Echaquan’s death is an example of the persistent struggle of systemic racism within the healthcare system. Even after her passing, caused by an excess of fluids in her lungs, speculation of drug withdrawal continued to be used as an excuse rather than addressing the neglectful and racist treatment she received from healthcare professionals. 

Cambria Harris, an Ojibwa activist and member of Long Plain First Nation, lost her mother to a homicide in 2022. Her mother’s remains have yet to be found, as the police decided to halt their search of the Manitoba landfill where her remains are believed to be buried. Harris said there have not been any services provided by the government for the mental toll this has had on her family. She continues to demand the action of authorities.

“Those [cases of neglect and discrimination] are the conditions where it makes it really hard for people to heal or have closure because there’s no justice and no social justice,” said Dr. Catherine Kineweskwêw Richardson, a Métis scholar of Cree and Gwich’in descent and co-founder of the Centre for Response-Based Practice—a centre that aims to promote effective responses to violence for Indigenous communities through counselling, education, research and advocacy.

These systemic issues become even more concerning when examining the suicide rates for Indigenous youth. They are ten times higher for males and 22 times higher for females than non-Indigenous youth. “No one questions why those statistics are not changing, and that’s because of the government before us; they’re not putting their resources at the right places,” Harris said.

Health programs which already exist, such as the Non-Insured Health Benefits—a program that provides coverage of health benefits for Indigenous communities—tend to be challenging to access due to the rigorous paperwork and requirements, further alienating those in need.

In a flawed justice system, where healthcare systems are facing their own challenges, Indigenous communities struggle to seek recourse, which can create a pervasive sense of deficiency.

Delta Jacobs, a Kanien’kehà:ka artist, said when she navigated the healthcare system, she felt unrepresented, emphasizing that she discovered comfort in art therapy as opposed to the more conventional client-centred therapy suggested by Western practices.

“The way they (most Western therapists) approach things seems so monotonous, medical and sterile for me,” Jacobs said.

Less than one percent of Canada’s physicians identify as Indigenous.

“Psychology is one of the arms of colonization,” Richardson said. She explained that individual-based therapy and diagnoses can oversimplify situations and people, failing to address the broader social injustices that affect communities.

Richardson also highlighted the issue of using psychiatric language from Western culture against Indigenous people. She said an example of this is the recurring issue of removing children from their parents based on perceived mental health diagnoses. 

“They come onto the reserves and pull families apart, which is just a way to break the community because they know that’s our strength,” Jacobs said. 

The solution social workers gave Jacobs’ three siblings was to take them to group homes at a young age for supervision.

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