On September 20, a beautiful sunny day in Canada, thousands of protestors and counter-protestors flooded the streets of various Canadian cities. Flags and signs clashed as some promoted “parental rights” and others promoted “trans rights.” As tensions rose, the police presence grew heavy. Yelling and arguments ensued, with some participants leaving in handcuffs. “I see a mix of absolute hatred and bigotry,” some counter-protestors shared. Others classified the initial protest as “a display of hatred.”
Who are these “hateful” protestors? Reportedly, they are angry parents, trying to protect their children from being sexualized through LGBT indoctrination in local educational institutions.
“1 Million March for Children” was coordinated by Ottawa resident Kamel El-Cheikh. He said in a speech, “We’re just starting. September 20 will be families’ and kids’ liberation day. We will be relentless. We will be unapologetic. From Victoria, Edmonton, Montreal, [to] Ottawa we will defend our children and parents’ rights at all costs. Remember, we are the powerful majority. We are one nation under God. God, keep our land glorious and free.”
Many of the participants had this same message: “Let us raise our kids. We want to raise them.”
In response to the event, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted, “Transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia have no place in this country.” Scout Gray, National Program Manager for SOGI 123, an LGBT educational resource center, claimed the protest revolved around “a lot of misinformation” on what is being taught in schools. But what the protestors want to make clear is that learning gender ideology has no place in the life of a child — regardless of what is being taught.
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As reported by The Post Millennial, “The event attracted an impressive list of speakers: from Pastor Henry Hildebrandt, who was arrested and jailed for conducting church services in Aylmer, Ont. to Josh Alexander, the high school student who was expelled and then arrested for opposing boys in his Catholic school from using the girls’ washrooms. Former 700 Club host Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson spoke,” as well as Pastor Nathan Pawlowski, who was arrested this week for violating COVID mandates.
Pawlowski’s son said at the march, “[The government and teacher unions] made a grave mistake uniting us finally to push back, that’s what they fear the most: unity.” He continued, “Government has no business in the education of children, none whatsoever. That decision rests with the parents and family. They have stepped too far.” He discussed how the “normalization of indoctrination … always ends in tragedy.” For Pawlowski, what happens in Nazism and communism have “similarities [that] are uncanny with what we are seeing in Canada today.”
Similar battles are being fought in the U.S. between parents and school boards. But on September 20, the streets of Canada were full of protestors who sought to keep gender ideology out of schools, and El-Cheikh made it clear that this was only the beginning. He said, “We’re gonna bring Canadians together again, because Canadians have been protesting from coast to coast organically. … We brought together Protestant Christians and Catholics and evangelicals and Muslims and then they’re coming together to protect Canada’s kids. Isn’t that lovely?”
In comments to The Washington Stand, Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council, observed, “[Something] that surprised me about the coverage I saw was that the leader of the protests made a video statement on social media. [They challenged] the LGBTQ+ community not to counter protest the parents, because the parents would have to return the favor by protesting LGBTQ+ pride events. That seems to my American reading to be confrontational.”
She concluded, “[I]t is really an attempt to not escalate the situation. I will be interested to see how these events are covered in Canada and how the public reacts.”
