Groups united for anti-rally
Solidarity Weekend events announced to counter Saturday’s anti-immigration rally at Confederation Square
Three days of events this weekend will give people a chance to respond to white nationalists planning to rally Saturday in Confederation Square, organizers said Wednesday morning as details of Solidarity Weekend 2017 were announced at city hall.
Canadian Nationalist Front Rally organizer Kevin Goudreau expects between 20 and 50 people to gather at the public square across from City Hall on Saturday between 2 and 5 p.m. for what he is calling an anti-Trudeau/antiimmigration rally.
City CAO Allan Seabrooke stated that the city can’t deny the permit, noting that freedom of speech is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The mass of organizations that have quickly mobilized as a result, including non-profit groups, school boards, businesses and faith congregations, is the community’s way of saying “No,” spokesman Roy Brady said. “The City of Peterborough is responding in return.”
The Solidarity Weekend will get underway with the Chalk Out Hate event from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Peterborough Square, Millennium Park and City Hall, where participants can fill the downtown with positive messages of resistance opposing white supremacy and neo-Nazism.
On Saturday, citizens are then encouraged to gather on the front lawn of Emmanuel Church at 534 George St. for a Turn Out event from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The “day of creative resistance” will include food, music, dancing, art, bubbles and words from guest speakers, including Desmond Cole of Black Lives Matter Toronto and Dawn Lavell Harvard of First Peoples House of Learning and formerly of the Native Women’s Association of Canada.
Speeches will take place from noon to 2 p.m. with a Dance Out to follow from 2 to 3 p.m. Clowns, circus performers, musicians and drummers are asked to come help make a spectacle, Charmaine Magumbe told those gathered.
The weekend will end with a Chill Out event from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday in Confederation Square.
“This will be a chance to infuse that space with care and connection,” she said, adding that there will be more art-making and music.
The group’s action began earlier this week with the release of a unity statement which had, as of Wednesday morning, garnered 100 organizational endorsements and been signed by 770 more people, Cantor Leon Litvack of Beth Israel Synagoge told those gathered.
“We come together to respond to racism, white supremacy and neo-Nazism with a resistance that is grounded in love, justice, hope, care and creativity,” it begins.
“We are deeply dedicated to the vision of welcoming inclusive, resilient, loving and diverse community – a place in which everyone can fully enjoy their protected human rights, free from hatred and oppression,” it reads. “White supremacism and neo-Nazism must not be paraded unchallenged on our streets. As we commit to resisting such a display, we also commit to the long-term work of unlearning and dismantling white supremacy and racism within ourselves, our relationships, our communities, our governments, and our world. We will continue this work until only love lives here.”
Coun. Diane Therrien, who disagreed with the city granting the permit, said Wednesday that the white nationalist rally mobilized the city, bringing out the “unwavering spirit of love and acceptance” that Peterborough has to offer.
The situation illustrates that the city’s strength lies in its diversity, unity and continuously active inclusion efforts, she added.
Mayor Daryl Bennett said the community must stand together against racism and hate.
“While our Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects freedom of expression, it also seeks to preserve and enhance our multicultural heritage,” he stated. “I trust that our law enforcement agencies will monitor and take action if any situations cross over to the promotion of hate or the advocacy of violence. The freedom of expression is not absolute.”
Litvack has spoke out on behalf of the city’s Jewish community, which will not be joining the counter protest this weekend because Saturday’s event coincides with Yom Kippur, the most revered day in the Jewish calendar.
“While pessimists among us may think that this seemingly serendipitous synchronisation is no such thing, it is nevertheless the case that we object strongly to the staging of this rally, and we protest with every fibre of our beings to any expressions of rabid antipathy towards our fellow human beings, however such ‘rights to protest’ might be camouflaged,” he wrote on behalf of the congregation.
Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal and Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef have each taken to Twitter to speak out on the issue.
“Thank you #Ptbo for choosing love, peace, and acceptance. I am proud of my hometown,” Monsef tweeted on Wednesday.
“Troubled to hear about this planned (anti-immigration) protest. We should not welcome hate in our city,” Leal wrote on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a top Jewish human rights foundation in Canada – Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) – issued a statement on Wednesday calling on the mayor and council to rescind permission to use the public square for the rally.
Although Seabrooke said it’s expected to be a peaceful protest, FSWC president and CEO Avi Benlolo stated there will be nothing peaceful about it.
“There is nothing peaceful about white nationalists marching in public spewing messages of hate and intolerance,” he stated in a release emailed to The Examiner.
“The mayor and city councillors must intervene to reverse this decision immediately.”
NOTE: Visit www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com to view the full unity statement and list of supporting organizations.