Organizers tell BayToday the turnout to Saturday afternoon’s Black Lives Matter march in North Bay was ‘amazing’.

At least a couple thousand people walked peacefully from Rollie Fischer Field to City Hall for a vigil and speeches.

The goal was to peacefully honour and remember the lives that have been lost and continue to be lost as a result of racism and police brutality.

Co-organizer Kaiden Peldjak tells BayToday it was important to hold the event to give the opportunity to show support and show there is still a lot educating that’s needed.

“Not only trying to help elderly people that may be stuck in old societal ways of looking at different races, but also making sure that isn’t passed on to the younger generations,” he says.

Co-organizer Kile George says they saw the protests elsewhere and felt it was important to show support from northern Ontario.

“We don’t see a lot of police brutality up north but it’s definitely still something that affects northern people of colour and we knew that it would be important to show, especially North Bay people, that we care and support the movement,” George tells BayToday.

Another information event with speeches at the waterfront Saturday evening was also well-attended.

 

(Photo by Jeff Turl/BayToday.ca)

Filed under: blacklivesmatter-city-of-north-bay