It was a chaotic scene in Downtown Guelph Wednesday, as protesters and counter-protesters gathered in droves for what turned into a five-hour demonstration.
It was all an argument of the approach taken in schools to teach students about gender ideology and sexual orientation.
The #1MillionMarch4Children group was formed initially to rally to remove what it called "biases and indoctrination" from schools. A local group called No Hate in Guelph formed online soon after to protest that protest.
Many of the roughly one thousand people participated in duelling chants at Guelph City Hall. Chants of "leave our kids alone" and "no space for hate" rang out for about an hour.
The gathering left organizers from both sides hopeful their voices were heard.
"It makes me incredibly optimistic because we had a huge crowd come out after such a small amount of notice," said city councillor Erin Caton in an interview, speaking on behalf of the No Hate in Guelph group.
"It was kind of a fast and furious organization from coalition groups coming together. I think that we really did show there is no space for hate here in Guelph."
"It's actually really good," Denyse Denny, organizer of the Guelph chapter of the #1MillionMarch4Children, said in an interview of the charged crowd.
"In Canada, we are still allowed freedom of speech. Whether you are for or against, we still have a voice, and we still are allowed to use it at this point."
About 850 people showed up in support of No Hate in Guelph, to the roughly 150 who came for the #1MillionMarch4Children.
Many on one side showed up wearing rainbow flags around 8:30 a.m.
By 9 a.m., more from the #1MillionMarch4Children filtered in, and by 9:30 a.m., the line was drawn under the covered area near the Guelph City Hall entrance way.
"There's a lot of people who have many opinions about this, and no matter how the folks who are trying to work towards kids' privacy and kids rights, feel like we all have different views on how to do it," Caton said. "But we all are working towards the same goal."
"It's for children's innocence, family values and parental rights," Denny said.
"All of these are slowly being taken away and removed by government and foreign influence as well."
Caton said there is a "handful of people who are trying to remove kids rights, and a whole massive protest worth of people hoping to support it."
Denny said she wishes counter-protesters were with them on the issue, that "they could remove their mask," adding her protesters didn't wear masks because "we're not afraid to show our faces in support of our children."
"They have no idea yet that their rights are being removed, as well as our rights are being removed," she said.
"Until they – I'm sorry I'm going to say it – until they put their ego aside and open their eyes to the truth, I don't know where we're going to go from here."
Mask-wearing from the No Hate in Guelph group was said to be because many in the crowd are immunocompromised. A table was set up to give away masks for anyone who wanted one.
Both sides set off for a march through Guelph, with both sides meeting near the rainbow crosswalk just before noon.
They gathered back outside city hall, where duelling chants began again with a thinned out crowd.
By 12:30 p.m., many counter-protesters remained. Even breaking out into chants telling the dozen #1MillionMarch4Children protesters who remained to "just go home, leave our kids alone" and "you're out numbered."
Amid the chants through the day, many from both sides could be seen having conversations.
It was pointed out Ontario's sex-ed curriculum allows parents to opt out their children.
"You can already opt your kid out," Caton exclaimed. "This literally could've been an email to your teacher."
When Denny was asked about that, she said she agrees children need to know about sex, but that it should be age appropriate.
"In my mind, in junior kindergarten and kindergarten, it's not age appropriate to some of the sexual ideologies they want to teach," she said. "In my mind, it's grooming, plain and simple."
She said elementary kids need to learn about how to read, write and problem solve.
She reiterated it's not the government's place to "be teaching this type of sexuality in schools."
"High schools, sure," Denny added. "They're a bit older, they might know a bit better."
