No justice! No peace! Those four words are a common refrain at protests. The chant, which also acts as a reminder that protests are meant to be disruptive, could be heard in cities across the country this weekend as Canadians demanded an end to anti-Black racism and violence. Rallies were held in honour of Regis Korchinski-Paquet and to stand in solidarity with protestors south of the border calling for accountability in the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by police.
These protests, at the request of Korchinski-Paquet’s family, were mostly peaceful. Korchinski-Paquet, a 29-year-old woman from Toronto, fell 24 stories to her death in the presence of multiple police officers last Wednesday. What started as a call to 911 for help — Korchinski-Paquet struggled with mental health issues — ended tragically, something that is not uncommon Black people in Canada and the U.S. “I asked if they could take my daughter to CAMH and my daughter ended up dead,” Korchinski-Paquet’s mother Claudette Beals-Clayton said to CTV News. An official SIU investigation into Korchinski-Paquet’s death is underway.
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People in Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, and Vancouver gathered in the middle of a global pandemic, wearing masks and wielding signs that read “Not Another Black Life” (also the name of the group that organized the protests) and “Stop Killing Black People.”
“It’s really remarkable that it was a peaceful protest,” said journalist Ebyan Abdigir, who attended the demonstrations in Toronto, on CBC’s Frontburner podcast Monday. “People gathered to protest against anti-Black racism, police brutality, but also to centre that these issues are Canadian too.”
Here are some of the most powerful signs and social media posts from #JusticeForRegis protests around Canada.