The Occupy Wall Street movement made its debut in Canada yesterday, with cities across the nation holding their own marches, occupation of space, and general protest.
In Windsor, over 100 protestors gathered behind City Hall for a reading of the Occupy Wall Street declaration and demands, symbolizing the beginning of the protest, before marching around downtown and coming to a stop at Charles Clark Square, the decided place of occupation. Those who wished to speak were given a chance to address the mass from atop a picnic table, while young and old stood by with cardboard signs in hand.
“We cannot simply point our fingers at the 1 per cent and demand a bigger piece of pie,” said Megan Mills, “because while we might be the 99 per cent of this country, we are 2 per cent of the world’s population.”
With a paper in hand, Mills attended the protest to support the Occupy movement, but remind people that even the middle class have benefited from capitalism, and that they mustn’t forget their place in the chain of capitalist industry.
“I am clothed today because people in other countries have been forced to make them at ridiculous prices. I enjoyed a cup of coffee today because communities in Africa and South America have been forced to grow beans at crippling prices,” Mills said.
One man, dressed in business attire, spoke about how he had four degrees but is unable to find a job, citing free trade and shipping jobs overseas as the problem.
“The politicians, they show you free trade, that free trade needs to happen,” he said, “But no one questions what will happen to free trade,”
The group marched at around 1:30 p.m. around the downtown area, stopping outside of The Windsor Star office building as well as TD Banks and Scotia Bank. Upon completing the march, the protestors came to rest at City Hall Square to begin their occupation.
No comment has been made as to how long the occupation will last.
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