i) Article by Carolyn Bassett, Coordinator of the Canadian Peace Alliance, Nov. 18, 2002:
"Did you hear about the anti-war events that happened across Canada this past weekend?"

ii)
Total estimate of people who protested throughout Canada and Quebec.
Based on estimates received --and remaining careful with respect to inflationary
enthusiasm-- it seems that approximately 30,000 persons demonstrated in various
Canadian cities this past Saturday and Sunday! The list of figures, on which this
total is based, is included...

iii)
Reports of Canadian-wide protests against the Bush administration's plan of aggression of Iraq

i) Article by Carolyn Bassett, Coordinator of the Canadian Peace Alliance, Nov. 18, 2002.

ii)
Total estimate of people who protested throughout Canada and Quebec.
Estimation totale des gens qui ont protesté à travers le Canada et le Québec.

iii)
Reports of Canadian-wide protests against the Bush administration's plan of aggression of Iraq
Rapports (en anglais) des manifestations contre le plan d'agression de l'administration Bush contre l'Irak

I
:::::: Article by Carolyn Bassett, Coordinator of the Canadian Peace Alliance, Nov. 18, 2002.

Did you hear about the anti-war events that happened across Canada this
past weekend?

By Carolyn Bassett - Nov 18, 2002

More than 33,000 people across Canada braved wind, rain, snow and Santa
Claus parades to show their opposition to Canada's involvement in a war
on Iraq last weekend, exceeding organizers' expectations. At least 30
cities and towns across the country participated in the weekend of peace
activities, called by the Canadian Network to End Sanctions on Iraq and
the Canadian Peace Alliance.

Riding high on the successful mayoral campaign of Larry Campbell, who
led the march, about 15,000 protested war, sanctions and militarism in
Vancouver. "What today demonstrates, particularly following the
elections in British Columbia" said Jef Keighley of the Canadian Auto
Workers, who was Master of Ceremonies for the rally, "is that Canadians
and British Columbians are standing for social issues and compassion.
This is a good sign for the future."

Toronto saw the largest peace rally since the 1991 Gulf War. Estimates
of the turn-out range between 5,000 and 10,000. "It's important to
participate," said David Garcia, an artist who joined the rally and
march. "You learn more every time. Then you can go to your family and
friends and talk about these issues." In Montreal, despite a blinding
snowstorm that made it impossible at times to see more than 2 metres
ahead, about 5,000 people made it out.

Many smaller cities and towns across the country held rallies, marches,
vigils and other activities. In Calgary, 75 peace marchers joined the
Santa Claus parade with signs saying: "Bush and Chrétien were bad this
year." In Fredericton, children brought war toys to put in a garbage
bin, showing their solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of innocent
children in Iraq whose lives would be at risk in a war.

In Sydney, Peace Quest Cape Breton launched a petition that gathered 850
signatures in two hours at a local mall. "We, the undersigned," the
petition started, "wish to record: our complete and determined
opposition to war in Iraq as an unnecessary, unjustified and immoral act
of aggression threatening the peace and stability of the region and the
world." In Charlottetown, one former soldier who had participated in the
Suez conflict told the crowd of fifty that "All war is wrong. It's
simply about money ... nothing has changed."

In Tofino, on Vancouver Island, organizers were pleasantly surprised
that sixty people attended the rally. "There were children. There were
seniors. There were people of all ages," said Lee-Ann Unger. "It was
awesome, everyone was so stoked. The enthusiasm was so incredible."
Outside Exxon and other oil company offices in St. John's, protesters
performed a "die-in" to highlight the connection between war and oil

The Canadian Peace Alliance and the Canadian Network to End Sanctions on
Iraq have called a further cross-Canada peace action for January 18 and
19, 2003. Further information will be available from both organizations
in the coming weeks.

Carolyn Bassett is Coordinator of the Canadian Peace Alliance

Canadian Network to End Sanctions on Iraq (CANESI)
e-mail: canesi@canesi.orgweb
site: www.canesi.org

Canadian Peace Alliance
ph: 416-588-5555 e-mail: cpa@web.caweb site: www.acp-cpa.ca
---

II
:::::: Total estimate of people who protested throughout Canada and Quebec.
::::::: Estimation totale des gens qui ont protesté à travers le Canada et le Québec.

ENGLISH: Based on estimates received --and remaining careful with respect to inflationary
enthusiasm-- it seems that approximately 30,000 persons demonstrated in various
Canadian cities this past Saturday and Sunday! The list of figures, on which this
total is based, is included below:

FRENCH: D'après les estimés reçus --et en demeurant prudent face à l'enthousiasme
inflationniste-- il semble qu'aux environs de 30 000 personnes ont manifesté dans
diverses villes canadiennes samedi et dimanche dernier! La liste des chiffres, sur
lesquels ce total est basé, est incluse ci-dessous:

Saint-Johns : 350
Charlottetown : 50
Halifax : 360
Fredericton : 50
Québec : 400
Montréal : 4 000
Ottawa : 1 000
Toronto : 7 000
Hamilton : 250
St-Catherines : 60
Thunder Bay : 30
Windsor : 250
Winnipeg : 1 500
Brandon : 32
Regina : 200
Saskatoon : 75
Calgary : 60
Edmonton : 650
Vancouver : 12 000
Prince George : 25
Victoria : 1 000
Tofino : 60

(This list has been compiled by Raymond Legault of Objection de conscience/Voices of Conscience (OCVC) in Montreal: voi...@colba.net He is the Quebec delegate of the CANESI Steering Committee.)
---

III
::::::: Reports of Canadian-wide protests against the Bush administration's plan of aggression of Iraq

:::::: In Alberta

EDMONTON (CANESI) Nov. 17 report

Well, we're happy to report that we had a VERY successful rally in Edmonton.
We estimate conservatively that 650 people showed up but some folks said the
number was more like ONE THOUSAND. I was at the front of the march and
couldn't see to the back of it. One side of the West end of Whyte Ave. was
basically closed to traffic for 45 minutes.

Diverse communities out. Beautiful stickers we made ("Enough of war" in
English, Hebrew and Arabic) passed in the 100s around the crowd & stuck to
people's hats and coats; terrific outreach with 1000 flyers of FAQs about
Iraq and MP contact info. (Flyer is still up at
http://www.wage-peace.org/download ).

Lots of fabulous speakers borrowed from the Parkland Conference happening
that weekend: Danny Muller from Voices in the Wilderness, Steve Staples from
the Polaris Institute, Dr. Saleem Quereshi and Gamal Abdel-Shehid from the U
of A, Jack Layton from the NDP convention which was in town, long time peace
activist Patti Hartnagel and CPC-ML speakers Peggy Morton and Kevan Hunter.
Unfortunately Waldon Bello had to conserve his strength for the keynote at
the Parkland as he was quite ill.

Police were not notified in advance this time. They sent four or six squad
cars to block Whyte Ave crossings. Once again nothing but thumbs up and
honking from cars: no negative reactions from people at all (except police
who were generally rude). The police sent out a forensic unit to film us.
Team of a half dozen folks on our side took turns blocking their camera,
following them around and preaching pacificism, arguments against racial and
political profiling. Distracted them at one point so our friends could sneak
up with a camera to take point-blank pictures of them and tried to hold
discussion with them about a "level playing field of surveillance." No
contact with police after the rally though.

Pages and pages of people signed up for our email announcement list.

Some constructive criticisms about the rally: flyer great, but need to
discuss strategy at rallies and possibilities for action other than / beyond
rallies, including civil disobedience and forms of direct action. This
follow-up's really important. War is a big abstract issue and people need
"toeholds" of what they can target.

We are planning to hold a community discussion forum next week about
"potential of the antiwar movement" & invite the folks from the discussion
list.

Robert E. Butz (just one of hundreds), Edmonton
robb...@telusplanet.net
---

:::::: In British Columbia

VANCOUVER (CANESI): The Peace March in Vancouver

Hi everyone,
Just got in from our peace march. It rained for the duration of the
march, but we certainly had better weather than you guys back east.

I have heard a wide range of estimates of how many participated, ie from
12,000 to 22,000. The B.C. Federation, who were marching at the back,
and trying to do a count, I heard, have estimated 20,000. I would go
with a more conservative estimate of 15,000. Whatever the number, it
certainly looked big and impressive and very diverse. People joined us
from Washington State, the BC interior and Sunshine Coast, AND, our
newly elected Mayor
led the march; definitely a first for Vancouver.

There were lots of musicians playing as they marched; there were large
puppets and other
great visuals. It was very noisy and everyone was in great spirits. The
speakers at the rally
included Felicity Arbuthnot,British Journalist, Svend Robinson and Jim
Sinclair, President of BC.
Federation of Labour.

I have certainly had calls from lots of media and there seemed to be a
lot at the march, but I haven't got a report in yet, of how much of this
actually translated into coverage.

Maybe we can all take a day off now!
Irene MacInnes ire...@shaw.ca
---

VICTORIA (CANESI): Peace March in Victoria

Hi all,

Just wanted to report that we had 1000 out in Victoria at our demonstration
yesterday. Very diverse crowd. Good contingent from the muslim community. 
Busload of people from Saltspring Island and students from Courtenay as well
as people from other towns on the island. The age range was from 3 to 93
and as others have reported we had many long time peace activists marching
alongside a lot of very enthusiastic young people. 100 students made a two
day peace walk from Pearson college to join the march. Highschool students
formed a contingent with students from the University of Victoria.

We had a good line up of speakers including Marion Pape who I believe is the
national president of the Voice of Women for peace. Dr. Mohammed Saleh from
the BC Muslim Association spoke along with two Iraqis who lived through the
Gulf War.

We announced the international weekend of action January 18th and 19th. 
People very much felt that this demonstration was a fantastic basis for
building something even bigger in January. We have organized a meeting
"After November 17th: What Next for the Anti-war Movement?" for this
Thursday.

All the reports on demonstrations across the country is very inspiring to
read. Looks like we have ourselves a national anti-war movement. Next
step: 100,000 out on January 18th/19th.

Eric Lescarbeau eles...@hotmail.com
Victoria Campaign Against War and Sanctions on Iraq
---

:::::: In Nova Scotia

HALIFAX (CANESI): Halifax Rally report

Dear Canesi and CPA all,

I’m so tired I just deleted my entire report by mistake. Will try again. ...

Just got thawed out from our tremendously successful peace march and rally, in spite of perhaps the most wretched weather yet for any of our rallies. 260 people braved snow turning to driving rain (60mm) with ferocious winds peaking at noon, an hour before the march began. Even the police and CBC TV and radio camera crews were sympathetic. 100 more joined us at the Anglican Diocesan Centre for the indoor rally

This event brought together broad groups from across the community and province in a way we had not achieved before - labour, Church leaders, Muslim and Arab communities, highschool and university students, and magnificent Raging Grannies. Speeches were superb, informed, extremely moving, and breathed energy and commitment into us all, marking this as just the beginning of opposition to US war.

Will send on media coverage tomorrow. Splendid work! all of you across the country. It was marvellous being able to talk to the media about the 25 other cities with similar events.

- Sheila Zurbrigg szur...@dal.ca
---

:::::: In Ontario

HAMILTON (CANESI): Hundreds Demonstrate in Hamilton

Some hastily prepared notes on Hamilton's November 16 demonstration

About 200-300 people gathered at Hamilton's City Hall late Saturday morning,
despite snow, frigid temperatures and howling winds. Usually open, City
Hall had been closed, presumably at the request of police. Unidentified men
set up a video camera just inside the glass doors to film those who had
gathered. They either stopped filming, or decided to move to a less ideal
location when there were just too many banners in front of the doors to get
good footage. Some moved their banners purposefully to prevent the video
taping of the crowd.

There were dozens of short speeches from a broad coalition supporting the
march. Speakers included the McMaster Muslim Student Association, Iraqi
Worker-Communist Party, Physicians for Global Survivial, NDP reps, the
Labour Council...etc...The local chapter of the Raging Grannies also gave a
rousing performance.

The march took us through downtown streets and ended at the partially
constructed new federal building, where a banner opposing a war was hung,
and which people then signed. Lots of supportive honks could be heard along
the way. There were a few more remarks at the end of the march, before a
recently re-energized Food Not Bombs collective provided food at the nearby
central public library, where some marchers warmed up and watched a movie.

I am unsure about radio or television coverage, though doubtful of the
latter, as our local manifestation of the Asper dynasty "CH Television"
turned down an interview with Noam Chomsky earlier in the week, and has
refused to cover a number of OPIRG-Iraq Working Group events. Hamilton's
daily newspaper, the Spectator, does not print a Sunday edition, so coverage
will appear on Monday.

Andrew Loucks andr...@hwcn.org
Hamilton

About the same demonstrate in Hamilton:

About 350 people attended the rally and march. About
half that watched Michael Ruppert's video, "Truth and lies about 9-11",
afterwards at the Hamilton Public Library and about 20 attended the
interfaith candlelight vigil during the Santa Claus Parade at 4 pm.

Congratulations on a successful weekend of activities!

In solidarity,

Ken Stone ken....@3web.net
for the Nov. 16 Coalition To Stop the Attack on Iraq
---

OTTAWA (CANESI): Ottawa Rally

About 1000 people came out to the rally in Ottawa (hard to tell though
because people kept coming and going because of the biting cold; but we
passed out about 1000 flyers).

Several separate marches - lead by Raging Grannies and Ottawa U students -
converged on Parliament Hill. We convened ourselves as a people's parliament
and enacted anti-war legislation. Murray Thomson and others spoke, we sang,
and Anxiety Performance did a satirical play on a wrestling match between
Bush and Hussein. THe students then lead a march over the US embassy to
demand that we be let into the US to inspect for weapons of mass destruction
(nukes, as well as sanctions and other financial policies).

Everyone seemed very pleased with it all and all - lots of good energy and a
good base has been laid for the anti-war movement here in Ottawa.

Mary Foster mfos...@web.ca
---

THUNDER BAY (CANESI)

Thunder Bay Peace Protest -
30 People, lots of support from passing traffic. We were told at the
local Naval base that we could not stand still and that we had to walk
or else we were breaking the law. Four Thunder Bay police cars dispatched
to the protest of 30 people. More information ie. photos and video media
to be placed on Thunder Bays Indy Media site.

First photos from thunder bay, more to come. Lets keep the country linked togeter and build on our sucess. http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2002/11/2069.php   

Please send me any other relavant information thanks.

Dave Pladzyk
Organizer
Thunder Bay Peace Coalition
---

TORONTO (Canadian Press): Thousands rally against Iraq war

Saturday, November 16, 2002
http://www.canada.com/national/features/iraq/

TORONTO -- Thousands of demonstrators gathered peacefully under frigid
grey skies on the lawn front of the Ontario legislature Saturday as part
of a national series of protests this weekend against ongoing sanctions
and the possibility of war in Iraq.

Carrying signs bearing slogans such as Don't Attack Iraq and Love Heals,
protesters cheered as speakers from a variety of labour and peace groups
decried military action in Iraq.

''The war against Iraq will have a horrific impact against innocent
civilians,'' said Marilyn Churley, an NDP member of provincial parliament
who was among the speakers.

''Canada should take back our traditional role as peace-makers and say no
to war.''

Protesters later marched from the legislature to the American Embassy.

''There's a real need for a peace movement,'' said Ali Mallah, president
of the Toronto chapter of the Canadian Arab Federation.

He said the Canadian government needs to stand up on the world stage as an
advocate of peace, even if that means disagreeing with its neighbours to
the south.

''I hate to say it, but we're becoming sort of irrelevant to United States
policies and plans,'' he said

The Toronto demonstration, which drew as many as 2,500 people, was
organized by a coalition of groups including the Toronto Committee Against
Sanctions and War on Iraq, the United Church, Arab organizations, labour
unions and other social justice groups.

''I strongly don't believe Canada should have anything do with such a war
- with or without UN approval,'' said protester Jerry Berman, 72, who
turned out for the protest with his wife after reading about it in a local
newspaper.
(...)
---

:::::: In Quebec

MONTREAL (CANESI): The Montreal group OCVC, a member of CANESI, and the Montreal Muslim News (mont...@montrealmuslimnews.net) estimate that about 4000 Marched in Montreal on Sunday.

Pour des images de la manif à Montréal:
http://www.cmaq.net
http://www.montrealmuslimnews.net/3.JPG
---
Montreal Rally for peace (by Mohamed S. Kamel)
Sunday November 17th 2002 and between 12:00 and 3:00 PM

In spite of the temperature, the blowing snow, Freezing Rain and ice bullet, more than 5000 Montrealers expressed there refusal to any war against Iraq and called for the Canadian government not to participate in any act of aggression against suffering people. This was one of many other rallies in 22 Canadian cities. A voice we hope that the Canadian Government will hear and understand.

Mohamed S. Kamel
she...@unforgettable.com
www.apm-ram.com
---

QUEBEC (CANESI): Report of Peace March in Quebec City

(Quebec City, Nov. 17, 2002) Though we were expecting much more, approximately 400 brave citizens marched through the wind and melting snow to demand that Canada not support in any way the Bush administration's plan of aggression against Iraq, cease all support of the criminal and inhumane sanctions regime, but also to protest the military occupation of Palestine and the apartheid policy against Palestinians. After many speeches by active citizens (activists), we stopped by the French Consulate to remind them to use their veto if the US government tries to launch their illegitimate aggression through the UN Security Council. We also marched passed the US Consulate; we had decided that it was not worth stopping since the US government obviously does not care about the rest of the world.

Since it was the first 'snow storm' of the season, many people stayed home. Nonetheless, the Quebec-Iraq Coalition and the Quebec-Palestine Coalition were very happy with the fact that the crowd was composed of people of all ages (and even three dogs ;o) More seriously, we came to the positive conclusion that we have a critical mass of at least 400 determined citizens with whom to organize future events for world peace and justice.

Our local representative of the Bloc Quebecois, Christianne Gagnon, once again gave her total support to our positions on these two issues. She will deliver our petition which declares that "The plan of aggression against Iraq that the Bush administration wishes to impose upon us, and the economic and military war led against the Iraqi society since 1990, are threats to world peace and security and are contrary to the interests of the Iraqi population", signed by about 5000 people, to the Prime Minister of Canada. Moreover, she vows to demand an open vote on the question of supporting a US led war against Iraq and to vote no against such plans.

Michael Lessard, Quebec City, webm...@droitvp.org
Quebec-Iraq Coalition: in solidarity with the Iraqi people
http://www.coalitionsquebec.org
---