Thousands of people took part in an anti-racism protest in Milton on Saturday.
The march began at Thompson and Derry, and finished at the Milton Sports Centre.
Here are some protesters speaking on why they were participating.
Milton resident Nathan Tshilolo is proud of the Milton community coming together.
His sister, Maria Tshilolo, echoes his statement, adding that it’s all about representation in Canada. She says that people need to understand that what we’re seeing come out of the United States is also happening in Canada.
The entire protest was put together by two eighth-grade students, Sidney and Tory. They share why they put the event together.
The two held a protest on Thursday with one of their parents. They then wanted more people involved, and the event blew up over the course of two days. The initial thought was that there’d be a few hundred people that would show up, and were both very shocked to see the sea of people.
Here is Milton MP Adam van Koeverden speaking on how there is a lot of learning that needs to be done as a whole.
MP van Koeverden asks residents to be willing to listen. He says the few anti-protesters that he saw should be focused on learning about what black people experience, rather than fighting against the protest.
We did record one anti-protester. The man had exclaimed, “All Lives Matter”, to a group of people. After roughly an hour of back-and-forth arguing, it had reached a boiling point. The man entered his truck while being followed and yelled at by a crowd. He then drove off after a few more minutes of arguing. Part of the escalation can be found here.
We spoke with a few Milton Councillors at the protest. Here’s what each had to say:
Mayor Gordon Krantz.
Regional Councillor for Ward 3, Mike Cluett.
Regional Councillor for Ward 4, Zeeshan Hamid.
Town Councillor for Ward 4, Sameera Ali.
As a note, we also spoke with Town Councillor for Ward 1, Kristina Tesser Derksen, but the conversation was not recorded.
Milton resident Carey dePass speaks on why he took part in the anti-racism protest.
Here are more voices from Milton residents sharing why they took part in the march.
The march came to a close at the Milton Sports Centre. Several speeches were in one of the open fields. There was a moment of silence for the many black people that have been killed by police officers in the United States and Canada. The crowd chanted and listened.
Protesters also remained on the streets where cars continued to honk their horns in support.
While the protest today was put together by two eighth-grade students from Milton, the idea in mind was to support Black Lives Matter. There are many ways to show your support, and if you’d wish to continue to show your support, you can click here for the Black Lives Matter homepage.
If you’d like to see video of the protest prior to the march, we did a Facebook Live video.