It's a tale of two protests today on the city's main road.
The 1 Million March 4 Children protest at Hollinger Park spurred a counterprotest, No Space For Hate in front of the Hollinger Park Square.
Similar scenes are playing out across the country today (Sept. 20).
The 1 Million March 4 Children is advocating to eliminate sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, as well as pronouns and gender ideology. The No Space For Hate group is rallying for a safe space for kids to be themselves.
Kelly Grenier helped organize the Timmins march for children.
“It’s hard to tell with these events, we never know how many people will actually show up. There’s people here today from Cochrane, from Iroquois Falls, from the surrounding areas as well,” she said.
The crowd rallied along Algonquin Boulevard, in front of Hollinger Park, before marching to city hall.
The participants, she said, are parents coming together to oppose gender ideology.
“It has nothing to do with LGBTQ, it basically has to do with sexualizing children in the schools,” she said at the local rally.
She thinks gender should be discussed with children when they're older.
"Nothing against anybody, they can do anything they like after they’re of age of consent. But before then, I don’t think it’s something to discuss with children, I just don’t,” she said.
Asking people their pronouns — whether they want to be referred to as he/him, she/her or they/them — is becoming more of a common practice.
"If it’s new for adults, I don’t think we should be introducing it yet to children. Also, the children have missed the past three years of school, if you think about it, due to COVID and instead of focussing on these new things, maybe we should focus on what they missed. There’s a lot of kids behind in school right now, reading, writing, math, everything," Grenier said.
During COVID, Grenier started homeschooling her children.
"So they won’t be indoctrinated anymore, they’re going to learn to think freely for themselves and they’re going to enjoy playing outside and not being in four walls and (told) to follow these strict rules that change every single day, which is really hard for kids to cope with," she said.
Julie Nobert DeMarchi is the executive director of Timmins Area Women in Crisis (TAWC) and a Fierté Timmins Pride board member.
When she hears the word indoctrinating, it evokes a different response.
"Indoctrinating them with what? Understanding of who they are? Let them decide for themselves, let them figure it out themselves, let them just be happy with who they are and feel content. If we want to talk about indoctrination, you’re indoctrinating hate and bigotry is what they’re doing and that’s not OK. That’s not OK,” she said. “You shouldn’t hate anyone, just let people be.”
Just over 30 minutes into the event, after people had started marching up the street to city hall, she said it was going well.
“There’s been no one engaging in anything on either side, that’s good. They walked through our space, which, whatever, it’s OK, we just reminded all of our folks, don’t engage. We have a message to give,” she said.
The counter-protest came together in about 24 hours.
Earlier this week, Nobert DeMarchi arrived home from an anti-hate rally in Ottawa. Hearing that the community wanted to get together, TAWC — already having megaphones, signs and other resources ready for tomorrow's Take Back the Night march — led the organizing.
“We’re ready and prepared for protests, let’s go out there and just create a space to let kids know that it’s OK to be you. It’s no more complex than that," she said.
There's no harm in talking pronouns at a young age, she said, arguing it helps children understand the world, which has always had transgender and diverse people.
“Let’s just give them space and kindness and let them figure it out. They’re much smarter than we are, they really are, and they have many more resources than we do. Let’s just let them figure it out. And if they don’t hear about it in a good context at school, they’re going to hear about it online,” said Nobert DeMarchi.
She also shared a teaching she received: "Sameness is dangerous, difference is sought after."
"We need to celebrate the unique, being different, being ourselves. That’s OK whatever that looks like, just be you. Just be you. If wearing something makes you feel good, great. If loving someone makes your heart feel good, perfect. That’s all it is,” she said.
Children needing a safe space to talk in Timmins can reach out to the Youth Wellness Hub and Timmins Fierté Pride, other supportive organizations are TAWC, Ellevive, and the Ontario Native Women's Association.
Below is a video of the 1 Million March 4 Children on their way to city hall as they pass by the No Space For Hate Group:
