'Beginning of the conversation': Hundreds come out to Black Lives Matter march in Stouffville

The solidarity march for BLM went from Tenth Line to Hwy. 48 along Stouffville Road

Yorkregion.com
June 8, 2020
Simon Martin

Main Street Stouffville was a little louder than usual June 6. Horns were blaring from passing cars and chants echoed from a few hundred people who were taking part in a Black Lives Matter solidarity march. They marched on the sidewalk with their signs from Tenth Line to Hwy. 48, chanting phrases like “No justice no peace.” Passing drivers raised fists through their sunroofs as a sign of support.

For many of the marchers, the event was powerful experience as they peacefully walked the four-plus kilometres along the sidewalk.

Nathaniel Maier-Mackenzie said he has been living in Stouffville most of his life. “There is an assumption this community is a non-racial place,” he said. That couldn’t be further from the truth of Maier-Mackenzie’s experience of living in Stouffville, where he felt racism in everyday activities like hanging out the park. “This march blew my mind away. It came from the citizens,” he said.

So much so that nobody at the march really knew who the organizer was. Sharon Guru, who now lives in Ajax, spend several years of her childhood in Stouffville. Those years opened her eyes to racism in the town and is part of the reason she decided to come to the march. “When we lived here, there was a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment,” she said.    

Stouffville resident and past local NDP candidate Gregory Hines was at the march with his family. “I want the prime minister to see this,” he said. Hines said there is things Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to do to support Black Canadians. The first thing on his list for Trudeau is fighting Bill 21 in Quebec, which Hines says disproportional targets Black people.

Hines would also like to see more Black people in positions of power with the government and is upset that former MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes had a falling out with the party. That being said, Hines loved to see all the support the marchers got from their fellow citizens. “Stouffville came out for this movement,” he said. “This is the beginning of the conversation.”

Samara Niemeyer grew up in Stouffville and when she heard there was going to be march, she got some of her friends together to join in. “The amount of people was surprising,” Niemeyer said. She was on hand with her sign that read “If you’re tired of hearing about racism, imagine how tired people are of experiencing it.”

Many of those on hand were there to voice their displeasure with a policing system, which they say perpetuates systemic racism. One individual who asked his name not be used said it’s something he and his children face every day. “Unfortunately, the average white person doesn’t get the same treatment from police as a Black person,” he said.

Stouffville Ward 4 Coun. Rick Upton and Ward 6 Coun. Sue Sherban took part in the march. “Over a few hundred came out for a great cause,” Upton said.

“I came out to support and listen. Learning is so important," Sherban said.