Kids and families come of age amid era of broad political protest
TORONTO — A recent vigil in Toronto to honour victims of the Quebec mosque shooting included the standard rallying cries for unity and impassioned speeches denouncing hate.
It also featured a toddler wailing at the back of the room, a trio of grade-schoolers scooting through the crowd in search of a clear spot to sit side-by-side, and several droopy-eyed youngsters battling sleep on their parents’ laps as bed-time came and went.
Kids seem to have become a regular fixture at the current wave of marches, demonstrations and political protests across the continent — and many parents pledge to make political action an ongoing part of their lives.
“If this isn’t an appropriate place for kids, what is? This is what we’re going to have to deal with in our lives,” 12-year-old Matthew Zoric-Jacobs said following the vigil at a local mosque, where hundreds of neighbours gathered on a Tuesday evening to decry Islamophobia.