Peaceful Manifestation in Quebec

Eva Sévigny, Photograph

There was a silent walk on may 8th in front of the parliament to encourage our government to make better decisions for the environment.

The walk went from the museum park to the national Assembly where there was a speech afterwards advocating the kid’s future. It was led by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, an author, actress and director from Quebec, Ma place au travail, an organization meant to bring awareness concerning the lack of daycare space for children and Mères au front, a group of mothers concerned about the government’s innaction regarding the environment. Together they brought, thousands of people on Mother’s day to influence the government into taking better care of the environment and improving the child-care situation.

The manifestation created a lot of awareness to the problems brought up in it, among other things, daycare centers and the environment. In Quebec, a bit less than 50 000 children are waiting for an opening in any child-care center in other words, the daycare demand is too great for what is offered leaving plenty of families unable to work as much as they could or use to.

On the other hand, the situation with the environment is far from good. We have to be careful and protect our planet if we don’t want to see an increase of natural disasters and global warming. Consuming meat everyday or throwing out plastic bags after only one use is actually really damaging for the environment. Instead of it being that way, a meat meal can be replaced with tofu and plastic bags can be reused. The government is however the one that can make and even bigger difference.

About 5 thousand people took part in the manifestation, most of them with their own custom signs advocating children’s future which was the main message of the silent walk.