When the rally began, the first speakers were a crew from Super InTent City. They focused on the rally’s first demand against the criminalization of poverty and breaking up the tent city. The now-tell-tale appearance of Super InTent City leaders is that they carry hatchets on their belts and a smile on their faces. Amidst their demands for homes, land, and for an end to the criminalization of poverty, they also reflect the deep sense of community togetherness that undergirds the camp. Ana, one of the leaders, took the mic and said, referencing the Outkast song, “We are your neighbours, lend us some sugar!” Her appeal for kindness pointed to the poor-bashing ideas that lay underneath the anti-poor laws of the Canadian government. Ana called for our movements to face these problems all together.
After the speakers, led by a banner reading, “Hands off Super InTent City,” the crowd of nearly fifty marched out of the square, up the driveway towards the hotel where the ministers met, and crashed into three bike cops blockading the main doors of the hotel. There, logjammed with the cops, they chanted “Seventy-seven thousand homes, Build them now!”; “Rich Coleman don’t you know tent city will not go,” and; “Christy’s cuts are class war! Coleman’s cops are class war.” The marchers demanded entry, and then tried to negotiate for a delegation of three to be admitted to deliver our demands. The cops refused, then finally took a request in to the ministers, who also refused. After about half an hour of pushing and shoving against the line of police, the rally ended with the Women’s Warrior Song led by Chrissy and Donna from Super InTent City, who carried a smudge bowl throughout the rally. And, proudly, the marchers paraded back to Super InTent City, taking the street and chanting all the way.
