Thousands of people gathered in downtown Toronto on Sept. 20, participating in the national Draw the Line rally.
The Toronto rally, which began at Sankofa Square and went towards Queen’s Park, was one of more than 70 protests in Canada.
The protest was organized by several coalitions representing movements for Indigenous rights, anti-war, climate justice, migrant justice and economic justice.
Organizers and activists ahead of the march addressed the crowd, calling for justice on issues the federal government has yet to act on.
Omar Elkhatib, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, said Canada’s support for corporations comes at the expense of Indigenous lands and Palestinian communities.
“As Canada subsidizes fossil fuel corporations and builds pipelines on Indigenous land without consent while criminalizing its land defenders, it is also subsidizing weapons for Israel and arming it with the tools of genocide and ethnic cleansing on the Palestinians,” he said.
Elkhatib said the federal government has misled Canadians about holding arms exports to Israel.
“Over the last two years, the Liberal government has claimed twice that it has stopped approving permits for arms exports to Israel. However, our arms embargo report exposes otherwise, that shipments continue to make their way to Israel,” he said.
Indigenous Rights Activist from Grassy Narrows, Chrissy Isaacs, said mercury poisoning has impacted the lifespan of Grassy Narrows.
“In Grassy Narrows, our lifespan is 50 to 60 years, while the rest of Canada gets to live, you know, a good full life, 80 years,” she said. “You know, every day we wake up, and for me, I've lived with mercury poisoning my whole life.”
Alongside organizers and activists, many people in the crowd said they joined the rally to show solidarity and a demand for action on the issues.
Robin Buyers, a member of the Indigenous People's Solidarity Group, said she joined the march in support of the Grassy Narrows and the concerns of mercury poisoning and resource projects built on Indigenous land.
“Kinross Gold is trying to move along with permission to do mining exploration in the territory without the First Nations' consent,” she said. “So, we're very concerned about Bill 5 and C-5, and how those are weakening Indigenous sovereignty, and are weakening oversight, environmental oversight.”
With Bill 5 now being law since June 5, it risks people’s well-being further. Bill 5 repeals multiple acts, including the Mining Act and the Special Economic Zone. The planned Special Economic Zone would include The Ring of Fire in Kenora, the same area where Grassy Narrows is.
The Bill would fast-track a landfill in Dryden, which is 150 kilometres from Grassy Narrows and the surrounding First Nations areas.
Buyers said that the mercury contamination dates back over three decades of generations in Grassy Narrows when Weyerhaeuser dumped waste into the watershed that left them living with Minamata disease, also known as mercury poisoning.
Niemh Ellwood, a rally participant, said she had originally planned to attend the Draw the Line rally after receiving flyers at a counter-protest she attended in Christie Pits the previous week.
She said the federal government's decision to bar the Irish band Kneecap from performing in Canada due to their support for Palestine motivated her to change her sign.
“The Canadian government decided to bar Kneecap from performing in Canada due to their support of Palestine,” Ellwood said. “So I changed my sign. The other side of my sign says Withdraw Bill C-2.”
Jared Irwin, who joined the rally in support of climate change, said he was concerned about the planet's overheating and how it could impact future generations.
“Our concern (is) with the overheating of the planet and what is it that we are leaving for future generations if we don't rein in fossil fuels and methane emissions,” he said.
Irwin said climate change has affected him personally, as well as the broader impact on the planet.
“I was feeling very overheated this summer. You know, on a very, very personal, micro scale. I'm concerned about the drying out of our farmland, our forests, the heating of the oceans, (and) the acidification of coral,” he said.
Irwin said the rally has highlighted how people can come together in solidarity, fighting for peace, the environment and human rights.
