John Munn stands in front of city hall Saturday afternoon during a protest of the UN Immigration Pact. Protests were held in communities all over Canada to protest the Liberal government's intent to sign the pact. -- NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker
A group of Hatters gathered outside of city hall Saturday afternoon wearing bright vests, waving Canadian flags and holding signs protesting Canada’s intent to sign a United Nations migration pact this week.
As cars drove by many honked, some stopped to share a word — while others slowed down to shout “F*** Trudeau” as they passed by.
The protest was held in conjunction with a number of other communities across Canada to protest the Canadian federal government’s intent to sign the UN pact this week.
“Canadians haven’t been consulted about this,” said Ron Briggs, who was one of the protesters Saturday. “The opposition party is voicing its concerns and Trudeau is dismissing it.
“It just seems like Trudeau is out of touch with Canadians. Every poll I’ve seen has shown that the majority of people want their say on this before anything is signed.”
The group planned on staying outside of city hall for a couple of hours with the hopes of spreading awareness on the issue and to get people thinking, says Laurie Carmichael.
“Canadians should make Canadian decisions — no one else,” she said. “We need to be united — we’ve got one day to speak and everyone in Canada needs to show the government that we need to be heard on this.”
United Nations members will gather in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh to formally adopt the pact on Monday and Tuesday. Many countries are set to sign the non-binding pact on one of those days but some have shown opposition to it, including the United States, Australia and Italy — others have shown opposition but have not said if they would sign the pact or not.
John Munn was sporting a bright vest Saturday and says the group is not against migration — but it has to be done right.
“My family came here in 1635 and were some of the original pioneers in this country,” he said. “I don’t disagree with immigration and migration but it needs to be done legally — no illegal border crossings or anything like that — that’s not OK.
“There’s no way an unelected body should be able to govern the rights of a country. We didn’t elect the United Nations — Canadians need to have a say on this.”
Wayne Muzyka said he is requesting people to help him stop the prime minister.
“Our Prime Minister is violating the rights and freedoms of all Canadians,” he said. “He is willing to strip us of our liberty — this cannot be allowed to happen.
“We need to show that we will not tolerate this. If the United Nations pact is signed that will violate the charter and it should result in the arrest of our prime minister when he returns to our Canada — everyone needs to phone their local RCMP.”
More information on where the Liberal and Conservative parties stand can be found by clicking the hyperlinks.
