Protests across Canada denounce wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Melanie Patten, Canadian Press
Published: Saturday, March 17, 2007
(CP) - Four years after American forces invaded Iraq, hundreds of anti-war protesters took to the streets across Canada on Saturday to denounce both the Iraqi conflict and the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.
Demonstrations were held in cities across the country, including Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton.
Holding signs that read "Together Against War" high above their heads, about 100 demonstrators marched under grey skies through downtown Halifax before stopping at a park for a rally.
The speakers included former U.S. marine Dean Walcott, who served in Iraq and is now trying to claim refugee status in Canada because of his objections to the war.
"I believe individual nations have the right to establish themselves as they see fit, and I believe they can do that without interference from the West," Walcott, 25, told a cheering crowd.
"There's got to be a better way for nations to be free rather than us putting a gun in their face and demanding it of them."
Walcott went on two tours of Iraq, where he served as a technician and worked with military police running convoys into Baghdad.
He left the marines in December and quietly boarded a bus to Toronto.
The U.S. invasion of Iraq began March 20, 2003, amid claims the Middle Eastern country possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed an "imminent threat." No such weapons were ever found.
Four years later, deposed leader Saddam Hussein has been executed, more than 3,200 U.S. troops have been killed and the country has degenerated into daily violence.
Halifax protest organizer Stu Neatby said the demonstration wasn't designed to chide military personnel, but rather the heads of both the U.S. and Canadian governments.
"We are here to condemn the leaders who send these people into failed, ridiculous and ill-thought missions to fight their own kind of colonial wars," he said.
The campaign in Afghanistan started in 2001, and Canada now has 2,500 troops in the country, most of them in Kandahar province. They are part of a NATO mission that includes more than 30,000 troops from several nations.
A few hundred protesters in Toronto rallied for a mix of causes beyond the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Also on the agenda were the Kyoto protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the campaign for a $10 hourly minimum wage and democracy in Iran.
But for many of the placard-carrying protesters, the rallies have become a much-needed venue to release frustrations and speak their minds.
"It's sort of comforting to come out here and see other people who are like-minded and that the world is not a complete disaster and hopeless," said Sarain Boylan of Toronto, as her voice was drowned out by chants of "Out of Afghanistan, out of Iraq, Bush and Harper, bring the troops back."
"We're all here because we want peace and we want to bring about change."
About 200 people gathered in front of the National Gallery in Ottawa, across the street from the peacekeeping memorial.
They pounded drums while carrying placards and chanting anti-war slogans, some accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of genocide.
They demanded Canada withdraw from Afghanistan immediately, although there was no explanation of what might happen then.
In Winnipeg, about 200 people marched from the steps of the provincial legislature to the city's downtown carrying effigies of Harper and U.S. President George W. Bush.
"I would like to make it clear to the federal government that despite the yellow ribbons supporting the troops, some people don't support the war in Afghanistan," said Glenn Michalchuk, chairman of Peace Alliance Winnipeg.
"Just because we don't support the war doesn't mean we don't support our troops."
The Canadian commitment to stabilize Afghanistan has been extended until February 2009, though government and military officials have insisted soldiers will stay in the war-torn country until they are no longer needed.
That pledge comes despite polls that have suggested Canadians have been deeply split on the mission, and calls from the opposition not to extend the deployment further.
Since 2002, one Canadian diplomat and 45 soldiers have died in Afghanistan.
The last Canadian fatality was Cpl. Kevin Megeney, who died earlier this month in an apparent accidental shooting at the NATO base in Kandahar.
Megeney was buried Friday in his hometown of Stellarton, N.S.
