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Dozens gathered at Nathan Phillips Square Saturday to protest mass immigration, prompting a counter-protest and a news conference with city councillors and opposing groups.
Ahead of the anti-immigration rally, Coun. Neethan Shan (Scarborough-Rouge Park) and Coun. Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth) joined groups such as the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations to denounce racism and xenophobia, the Toronto & York Region Labour Council said in a news release.
The anti-immigration rally also prompted a counter-protest by Community Solidarity Toronto, which focused on reducing hate in the city.
Canada First Movement founder and president Joe Anidjar said he started the initiative in 2024 to send a message across the country.
“Before, we had a great immigration system where people came here, they knew they had to work hard,” he told CBC Toronto Saturday. “Now we’re paying for people’s livelihoods. And that’s just not the way. That’s not where I want my tax dollars going.”
Anidjar added he wants to see more money go towards homelessness and mental illness support within the city, rather than towards wars overseas.
“We want to put our people first. We want to put our needs first,” he said.
In a post to social media Saturday afternoon, Toronto police originally said a total of 11 arrests were made at a demonstration at Queen Street W. and Bay Street. In an update to social media, Toronto police said a total of nine arrests were made.
In a news release Sunday, Toronto police said a total of eight arrests were made and a total of 29 charges were laid in connection with the demonstrations at Nathan Phillips Square. Upon further investigation, one person was released with no charges, Toronto police said in Sunday’s release.
Toronto police also told CBC Toronto Sunday that approximately 200 to 300 people were in attendance at the demonstrations at Queen Street W. and Bay Street.
Rhetoric ‘needs to be stopped,’ councillor says
The counter-protest by Community Solidarity Toronto garnered approximately 150 attendees. Dana Julien, a protester holding a sign that said ‘Immigrants are welcome here,’ said he’s standing with migrants who are being turned into “scapegoats.”
“When there’s a big vocal expression or even a pathetic vocal expression of hatred towards immigrants, I want to be there to stand against it,” he said.
In a post to social media Saturday afternoon, Toronto police said a total of 11 arrests were made at a demonstration at Queen Street W. and Bay Street. (Spencer Gallichan-Lowe/CBC)
Councillors and activists preceded the Canada First rally with a news conference inside Toronto City Hall Saturday, warning of the dangers of anti-immigration rhetoric, particularly in light of a recent killing in the U.S. involving an immigration agent in Minneapolis, Minn.
Nigel Barriffe, president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, said it’s not fair to blame immigrants for the ongoing affordability crisis in Canada.
“It’s not their fault,” he said. “We’ve had waves of immigration that have come to this country and built it [into] the beautiful society that we have now. So to blame immigrants for the problems that are happening is a lie.”
For United Church Rev. Sarah Miller, who is also a member of the Toronto East Anti Hate Mobilization, the point behind anti-immigration protests is to make it “safer to be racist.”
“I am concerned about creating an environment like that because that reduces safety for everyone,” she said. “That creates division where there is coexistence, where people are living and working together in very positive ways.”
Coun. Neethan Shan (Scarborough-Rouge Park) told CBC Toronto he wants the affected communities to know Toronto stands in solidarity with them.
“This xenophobia, these anti-refugee, anti-immigrant sentiments that are being spread deliberately to cause fear, deliberately to create a foundation for further racism and hate needs to be stopped,” he said.
Anidjar said that’s not what’s happening.
“If you take a look around, it’s very multicultural. It’s people from all different backgrounds and races,” he said. “At the end of the day, we want to preserve our culture, our identity and our way of life.”