Anti-Colonial Action at Kingston’s Canada Day Parade

Submitted to It’s Going Down

A committed group of diverse activists stood this afternoon against the colonial celebration of Canada Day and the “Red and White People Parade” in Kingston, Ontario. This group displayed a Canadian flag featuring the maple leaf upside-down. This flag had an inscription that read “Our Home On Native Land/Genocide and Colonialism.” Once the group had been noticed by the people on the streets they then burnt the flag and dispersed.

This action made people in the parade very angry and uncomfortable but we weren’t there to make people feel good or to participate in the celebrations. We were there to confront Canadians with the disgusting genocidal reality of the country they love, and to take a stand for radical decolonization and Indigenous sovereignty and self-sufficiency. Local backlash to this action also proves the racism Indigenous people and others continue to face in Canada.