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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
Around a dozen protestors stood in front of the Edinburgh Road entrance to the St. Joseph’s Health Centre on Saturday over a labour issue. The issue? The long-term care home’s vaccine mandate. Several members of the protest identified themselves as personal support workers now let go from St. Joe’s because they refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Continue reading “St. Joe’s Protestors Say They’re Out of Work Because They Won’t Get Jabbed”
It was a grey and chilly Saturday afternoon, the downtown streets had the usual kinds of people milling about grabbing a bit or doing a bit of shopping, but the real action was political this weekend. At noon, it was the supporters of the First Nations land defenders in the Wet’suwet’en territory, and then later it was time for the Guelph Freedom Rally, one of the largest local gatherings yet for the COVID-19 skeptical. Continue reading “A Tale of Two Protests: Saturday Marches for Indigenous Rights and Freedom (!)”
A proud Guelph tradition returns this Thursday when several local groups will host a climate strike at noon in St. George’s Square. In the wake of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s recent, and damning, report about the out-of-control warming of the planet, the consortium has some very important demands with local and national reach. Continue reading “Climate Strike Planned Downtown This Thursday”
As bombs fell and rocket fire was exchanged in Israel again on Saturday, hundreds of Guelph residents attended a march downtown to support the Palestinian people who are once again barring the brunt of this new wave of violence in the Middle East. The large Guelph turnout was one of a number of such protests around Canada Saturday as local anger over international affairs boiled over. Continue reading “Hundreds Take to the Streets in Guelph to Support Palestinians”
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