March against health protocols draws hundreds
Frustrated parents lead protest, demand return to normal for schoolchildren
A few hundred parents and children took part in a demonstration against public-health measures in schools Saturday afternoon at Place des Festivals.
The event was organized by the Collectif Parents Québec, which demands a return to normal, especially for primary schoolchildren. The running theme was unhappiness about kids having to wear masks in school, which often carried over to an outcry about having to wear masks period.
“Laissez-nous respirer” (let us breathe) read a sign carried by one protester.
Others included “Shame on the media,” “Don't touch my kids. That's enough,” “Children wearing masks equals children suffering,” and “It's not the virus they want to control. It's us.”
Bob Marley's Get Up Stand Up played over the sound system at one point, its chorus (“Stand up for your right”) summing up the general spirit of defiance.
Parents and children took the microphone.
“You're here nobly, standing up because you know what's good for your kids,” said one woman who got on stage. “It's fear that's making them think like this. But the only reason you should need to get up in the morning is love. Love won't keep you in fear. A mask is fear. A mask is danger.”
“We want freedom,” shouted an energetic little girl named Annabelle, who led everyone in a rowdy chant of “Liberté! Liberté! Liberté!”
Pascale Montesano, co-founder of Collectif Parents Québec, said she believes kids should not have to wear masks in school.
“We find it detrimental to the proper development and health of our children,” she told the Montreal Gazette. “And let's not forget the toxic masks that were distributed to kids for three months.”
Montesano said Collectif Parents Québec doesn't deny there's a pandemic, but believes the Legault government has other alternatives than to make kids wear masks in school.
“They could have small classes, and put ventilation in classrooms. But (health) minister Roberge, on top of lying to all of Quebec, decided not to go with that idea.”
There are outbreaks in schools, she acknowledged, “but they're isolated. Kids aren't in intensive care, yet their future is being sacrificed.”
Eric Blackburn attended the march with his partner and their two daughters, ages six and eight.
“I'm here for good old common sense,” he said. “And science, too. Making the population wear a piece of individual protection equipment and thinking you'll be efficient is heresy.
“I'm here for my kids, and for everybody, to make sure we fight so that we will have a sane debate and a spirit of collective love expresses itself. We're here to make sure there's a counter narrative.”
It's a question of constitutional rights, according to Michèle, who didn't want to give her last name. She was taking part in the protest with her 13-year-old daughter.
“The measures are excessive,” she said. “I'm not talking about washing your hands, which is a good measure and should be used all the time when people enter businesses. But masks are ridiculous. Transmission takes place in all kinds of ways.
“Why does the government continue to impose measures that are completely disproportionate? We're the only ones in North America who are under lockdown with a curfew.”
Organizers regularly reminded people to follow public-health guidelines, but masks were in short supply among those assembled.
The event took place as COVID-19 infection numbers in the province continue to climb.
Quebec recorded 1,754 new cases on Saturday and another 1,535 on Sunday, driving the number of active cases above 12,000 and the number of hospitalizations above 600.
A recent study showed stricter mask mandates in Quebec schools would have slowed the spread of COVID -19.