A massive protest of several thousand people took place outside the US Embassy on Sussex Drive in Ottawa this afternoon.
The protest comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, and the killing of six people at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec on Sunday night.
Last night, Council of Canadians campaigner Daniel Cayley-Daoust, who helped to organize today’s rally, commented, “This is why hate cannot be left to fester unopposed and we need to come out in bigger numbers for the rally in Ottawa. Policies of exclusion and separation need to be unacceptable, always. Thoughts, strength and prayers to all the families, friends, neighbors of people affected by the shooting in Quebec City, all those detained in the US, and anyone who has had hardship thrust upon them by border and unjust immigration policies. See you in the streets. Now as much as ever is the time to step up and build open, welcome and resilient communities.”
CNN is now running this Council of Canadians video of the protest from our Twitter feed.
CBC reports, “Amira Elghawaby, a spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, told the crowd, ‘We have to stand loudly and clearly against all hate, from wherever it comes’, Elghawaby told the crowd. ‘The idea that a person’s religious identity or ethnic identity is enough to determine that they aren’t worthy of entering the U.S. — that they are somehow suspect — is deeply flawed, and we fear will only further suspicion of Muslim citizens and residents in the west’, she said.”
The article highlights, “Between speakers the crowd chanted phrases including ‘No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here’, and ‘No bans, no walls, sanctuary for one and all.'”
After the speeches, the thousands who had gathered dispersed and formed a human chain around the US Embassy.
The Council of Canadians supports the calls for Trudeau to explicitly reject the Trump-imposed travel ban, for the Minister of Immigration to present a plan in the House of Commons on how to address this situation, and for the government to immediately rescind the Safe Third Country agreement with the United States.
The Council of Canadians supports diversity and inclusion, and rejects racism and Islamophobia.
Further reading
Condolences and solidarity with the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec (January 30, 2017)
The Council calls on Trudeau to rescind the Safe Third Country agreement (January 28, 2017)
