Tag: Protest

GUELPH POLITICAST #390 – How to Cover a Protest in 2023

Published on by Adam A. DonaldsonLeave a comment

For years, Guelph has been a hotbed of protest, a very politically inclined city on a variety of issues including climate change, poverty, workers rights, equality, Black Lives Matter, and the systemic abuse of Indigenous peoples. Last Wednesday, direct action was on display again as people gathered in Market Square, but this was a protest completely unlike any other in a number of ways, and we need to take a moment to unpack things. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #390 – How to Cover a Protest in 2023” →

Tensions Fray as ‘Million’ Marchers Met Bigger Counter Protest at City Hall

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Two things were observably true on Wednesday morning in Market Square: a planned demonstration by around 250 people under a banner called “1 Million March 4 Children” where met by a counter-protest three times its size, and there was considerable enmity between those two sides. All told, about a thousand people gathered in the one acre-sized square in front of City Hall but in ideology they were worlds apart. Continue reading “Tensions Fray as ‘Million’ Marchers Met Bigger Counter Protest at City Hall” →

They’re Marching for Children, But Some Are Concerned There’s Another Message

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The site of flags, signs and marchers through downtown is hardly an unfamiliar site for Guelph, and it will be seen again this coming Wednesday as a group of people will gather at City Hall and undertake a long march to College Avenue in the name of “Uniting diverse backgrounds and faiths” to eliminate “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) curriculum, pronouns, gender ideology and mixed bathrooms in schools.” But what does that mean? Continue reading “They’re Marching for Children, But Some Are Concerned There’s Another Message” →

500-Plus (Including Guelphites) Form Unwelcome Wagon For Doug Ford in Kitchener

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It started with one Waterloo Regional Police officer. Then two. It wasn’t too long before 10 officers were standing at the west entrance to Bingeman’s, the site of FordFest in Kitchener on Friday night. The detail was traffic control of a sort. On the roadside in front of the amusement park and conference centre complex were well over 500 people representing labour, environmental, and education groups who had come to (un)welcome the premier and his supporters to Waterloo Region. Continue reading “500-Plus (Including Guelphites) Form Unwelcome Wagon For Doug Ford in Kitchener” →

Supporters March for Guelph Couple Still Locked in SLAPP Suit

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The site of rainbow flags and the sounds of Top 40 music flowed through the downtown on Saturday afternoon as over 30 people marched in support of a Guelph couple sued in a Twitter spat with Guelph Medical Imaging. Organized by a pair of United Church ministers, the message from the participants – young and old, straight and queer, cis gendered or non-binary – was that there’s no place for homophobia in Guelph. Continue reading “Supporters March for Guelph Couple Still Locked in SLAPP Suit” →

Nice Day for a Protest! Political Action Marks First Day of Spring

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Sunday was the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere, but the season was barely a couple of hours old when Guelph’s political activists came out in force on Sunday afternoon. From anti-abortion activists in front of the Basilica of Our Lady, an anti-COVID mandates demonstration in front of city hall, to a march for migrant rights around the office of MP Lloyd Longfield, things here very politically busy downtown. Continue reading “Nice Day for a Protest! Political Action Marks First Day of Spring” →

Cold Weather and Hot Tempers at School Board Mandate Protest

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The snow was falling, and a bitter wind was blowing, but things actually did get heated at a protest outside the main office of the Upper Grand District School Board on Victoria Road Friday. Over 20 people, some with their kids, gathered to call for an end to mask mandates in schools, while at least one person stood her ground about the ongoing necessity of public health restrictions. Continue reading “Cold Weather and Hot Tempers at School Board Mandate Protest” →

Biggest Anti-Lockdown Rally Yet Storms Old Quebec Street

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The Guelph edition of this weekend’s nation-wide protest against anti-lockdown measures and vaccine mandates was the largest such gathering in Guelph yet, and the emboldened crowd made it a road show. After hearing speeches in front of City Hall, a few hundred people marched up Wyndham Street, and entered Old Quebec Street maskless as an act of organized defiance. Continue reading “Biggest Anti-Lockdown Rally Yet Storms Old Quebec Street” →

Guelph Protesters Warm Up Before Country-Wide Freedom Rallies Next Weekend

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Next weekend, there are a series of so-called freedom rallies planned for our region, around Ontario, and across the country. Perhaps as a warm up act, or perhaps just to warm up, about two dozen people gathered at Wellington Street and Gordon Street to protest the new provincial lockdowns, vaccine mandates, masking rules, and the general malaise of the pandemic. Continue reading “Guelph Protesters Warm Up Before Country-Wide Freedom Rallies Next Weekend” →

Protestors Say They’re Fed Up With “Scariants” and the “One More Con” Virus

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The wind didn’t howl so much as whistle though downtown Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t the only thing making noise. Three weeks after a large protest among the pandemic skeptical in front of City Hall, about 60 people met again at 1 Carden Street to express their ongoing disgruntlement about the current state of things. In other words, it’s all going according to plan and they don’t care for it. Continue reading “Protestors Say They’re Fed Up With “Scariants” and the “One More Con” Virus” →