Rally at Surrey border park to mark 1st anniversary of peaceful protests<\/p>\n
Published 10:50 am Tuesday, March 10, 2026<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a year since Canadians and Americans began gathering at Peace Arch Park in an across-the-border show of friendship and solidarity, in response to increasingly divisive comments coming out of the White House.<\/p>\n
With, sadly, no end in sight to the incentive behind Peace, Love and a Handshake, the determination of those who have continued to peacefully gather hasn\u2019t wavered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels so important for me to be there,\u201d Janice Young, a retired Peninsula United Church minister, said Monday (March 9).<\/p>\n
Young said she \u2013 along with as many as 40 other \u201cdiehards\u201d \u2013 has attended all but one or two of the peaceful border-park gatherings that have taken place every other Saturday since March 2025.<\/p>\n
No matter the weather, the contingent from north and south of the line is there from noon till 2 p.m., getting to know each other, waving signs with messages of support, and sharing information; bonding over shared concerns, and reaffirming their status as neighbours and friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of sharing of ideas,\u201d said Young. \u201cMy sense is people feel supported and enthusiastic, and we just want to keep coming because the relationships that are formed are really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relations between Canada and the U.S. have been strained ever since Donald Trump was elected president and began launching into \u201951st State\u2019 rhetoric and slapping on tariffs left, right and centre.<\/p>\n
Langley resident Haidee Landry played a key role in organizing the Canada-U.S. solidarity events, which initially attracted droves of attendees.<\/p>\n
Landry said Monday the movement has grown to have a life of its own; one that doesn\u2019t depend on any one person, but is sustained by a \u201creally strong, committed group of volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event\u2019s message remains strong, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that right now, it\u2019s more important than ever,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe\u2019re hearing so much anti-Canadian chatter coming out of the U.S. administration right now. And we\u2019re not just hearing that from the president, we\u2019re hearing it from the administration \u2013 all members of the administration are starting to talk like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I believe, strongly, that it\u2019s in Canada\u2019s best interest to maintain our friendship with our families, friends, acquaintances in the U.S., because we want them to see it for what it is \u2013 propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n
Landry said an interesting development in the rallies is the increasingly positive reception from travellers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that is a good feeling\u2026 to know that the tide is turning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peace, Love and Handshakes will return to Peace Arch Park from noon till 2 p.m. this Saturday (March 14), marking its first anniversary with a rally that includes speakers from both sides of the border, a picnic and music.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoin us at the Peace Arch monument as we mark one year of Canadian and U.S. citizens gathering in mutual support of freedom, democracy, sovereignty and rule of law!\u201d a poster details.<\/p>\n
Young hesitated to call it a celebration \u2013 \u201cbecause we don\u2019t want to have to be doing this at all\u201d \u2013 but is confident the effort is having an impact, and will continue to.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always about planting seeds and starting small and seeing where it ripples out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rally at Surrey border park to mark 1st anniversary of peaceful protests Published 10:50 am Tuesday, March 10,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-527327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}