Canadians Rally in Support of the American “No Kings” Movement
Getty Images via BBC News
On Oct. 18, Canadians joined the American people in a peaceful “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration. These protests took place in many Canadian cities, such as Vancouver and Montreal, uniting hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country.
More than 2,700 "No Kings” protests were scheduled in the US on Oct. 18, according to CNN. The “No Kings protests” — also known as the “No Tyrants” or “No Dictators" protests — are a series of demonstrations all over North America, from Montreal to Portland, that go against what organizers describe as the authoritarian policies of Donald Trump and corruption in his administration.
The name “No Kings” stems from the accusation that Trump is behaving more like a monarch than an elected official. These protests are the third mass mobilization to date since Trump's return to the White House.
In Vancouver, hundreds gathered downtown at Jack Poole Plaza for the “No Tyrants” variant of the protest. “In Canada, we won't back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty,” a release from the BC Humanist Association, the organizers of the protest, stated.
The Quebec chapter of Democrats Abroad, which represents US citizens living outside of the country, organized a “No Kings” rally in Montreal.
“ From New York to Berlin, from Toronto to Tokyo, and right here in Montreal, people are gathering to remind the world democracy isn't something we inherit once, it's something we defend every single day,” David Hamelin-Schuilenburg, the chair of the chapter, told the crowd, according to the Montreal Gazette.
Hamelin-Schuilenburg emphasized that protestors are taking a stand “because we've seen what happens when fear, hate, and greed take over leadership, and we're saying, not on our watch."
He also has many concerns about the Strong Borders Act presented by Prime Minister Mark Carney's government. The act proposes multiple changes to immigration policies, specifically with the intention of “protect[ing] Canada while upholding Canada’s privacy and Charter rights,” and “keep[ing] our borders secure.”
“We're not supposed to be following the lead of the United States and splitting families apart, " Hamelin-Schuilenburg said about the Act. “We need to stand up to that.”
Many protesters and organizations have expressed their concerns regarding the issue, including Catherine Pugnaire, a member of the Raging Grannies, an advocacy group made up of older women who aim to promote peace, justice, and respect for the earth by rewriting political versions of well-known tunes.
According to CBC News, Pugnaire said that “Canadians have to wake up and get unified. We have a chance now.” The Raging Grannies performed a political musical number in Montreal, to the tune of “Puff the Magic Dragon”. Similar to others at the protest, Pugnaire believes that Canada and Quebec will eventually be affected by the events in the US.
In response to the protests, Trump shared several AI-generated videos on Truth Social of him wearing a crown, including one where he was flying a jet that dumped what appeared to be human feces on the protesters.
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, shared in a press conference that “he [the president] is not calling for the murder of his political opponents,” but was instead “using satire to make a point.”