A few dozen people gathered at the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights in downtown Ottawa to show solidarity and support for the Black Lives Matter movement on June 6.
The gathering marked one year since thousands of protestors took to the streets calling for an end to anti-Black racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police.
In a press release, protest organizers from the Ottawa Black Diaspora Coalition (OBDC) said the demonstration aimed to “serve as a space of healing for members of the Black community who have been subjected to direct and vicarious racial trauma.”
OBDC protestors are calling on City of Ottawa officials to enact a series of changes related to policing in the city, including a budget freeze and an end to police presence on contested Indigenous territories.
Featured image by Saif Rahman.
