The Rural Voice, 1992-04, Page 38Sendinga message
The rural community showed solidarity taking its message
to Parliament Hill — and learned something about itself
n the grey early morning light the
snow-covered Eastern Ontario
landscape rolled past thc windows
of thc buses. By this hour many of the
farmers on board, par-
ticularly thc dairy farm-
ers, would have been up
anyway but many had
now been without sleep
for 24 hours. By thc
time they reached homc
late thatt night, many of
them would have bccn
up for most of 48 hours.
By this point thcy must
have been wondcring if
they'd have been wise
to have joincd a few of
thcir colleagues who
Photos
by
Mona Irwin
had Icft early in thc
afternoon and now were
sleeping comfortably in
a hotel bed. Yet long as
the time was, and
uncomfortable as they
may have become in the
long trip, few would
later have traded a
moment of it for the
exhilaration of thc day.
Before Fcb. 21 was
over 30,000 to 40,000
farmers from across
Canada and into the
U.S. would have stood
knee-deep in the new
snow on Parliament Hill
to demonstrate their sol-
idarity in the largest
demonstration ever seen
on Parliament Hill.
Ycars from now, hun-
dreds of thousands may
claim they were there
on the day that Canadian farmcrs
showed that despite the fact they
make up only a small portion of the
population, they could still assemble
the most impressive demonstration
Ottawa had ever seen.
Ostensibly, the massive demonstra-
tion was to show the government
farmers would not stand for any trade
negotiation stand that didn't protect
supply management but it
became as much as any-
thing a demonstration for
a rural way of life. Stand-
ing in the snow, cheering
loudly as the speakers
shouted their defiance of
those who would abandon
supply management were
feed dealers and hired
men, cash -croppers and
hog producers. In the
press enclosure were
dozens of reporters from
community weekly news -
34 THE RURAL VOICE
Farmers went to Parliament Hill to
deliver a message.
Story
by
Keith Roulston
papers across Ontario and
Quebec, most probably
covering something on
Parliament Hill for the
first time in their lives.
Back home there were
signs in the windows of
many stores in many com-
munities, expressing soli-
darity with the farmers.
Green ribbons appeared
on car aerials or tied
around arms. Many busi-
nesses shut down for an
hour in tribute to the
demonstration. Organizers
of buses taking farmers to
Ottawa found hundreds of
businesses willing to
make donations, so much
so that Roger George,
president of the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture
said later, there was actu-
ally a profit made on the
buses ini his area.
But in the early morning light that