Progressive groups rally 'common front' to march, challenge elements of Carney agenda

“It became very clear to many organizations and many movements that we needed to ramp up for a fight in the coming months, and so we’ve tried to design Draw The Line to meet that moment here,” said Amara Possian, the Canada team lead at 350.org, an international climate group.

The protests are part of a global “day of action” broadly aimed at tackling issues around climate change and income inequality.

When those global plans started to shape up over the summer, the 350.org team in Canada got together with civil society groups to figure out what it could look like here, said Possian.

What’s taken shape, organizers say, is a level of cross-country collaboration not seen in recent memory among progressive civil society groups. The coalition of 14 partner organizations and more than 300 endorsing groups represents movements for migrant justice, economic justice, Indigenous rights, anti-war activism and climate justice.

“We’re seeing this global push towards armament. We’re seeing that every climate red line is being crossed. We are seeing a genocide being live streamed for two years. So, we’re living in historic times and it requires a historic unity of struggle,” said Syed Hussan, the spokesperson for the Migrant Rights Network.

“We need a common front.”

The Prime Minister’s Office did not return a request for comment.

Saturday’s action is just the beginning, organizers say. The intention is to build a coalition capable of quickly mobilizing to defend and advocate for a range of progressive causes.

Their demands include calls to “put people over corporate profit,” “refuse ongoing colonialism,” “demand full immigration status for all,” “end the war machine” and “end the era of fossil fuels”.

And their list of grievances with the Carney government, which has brought the federal Liberals away from the political left and closed the door on Trudeau-era climate policies such as carbon pricing, is long.

Among the issues raising alarm bells for the progressive activists are the new government’s plan to fast-track a liquefied natural gas project and its decision to appoint a former Trans Mountain pipeline CEO to lead a newly announced major projects office.

Carney has also promised a 15 per cent cut to federal program spending at the same time as the government adds billions of dollars to its military budget.

Two major legislative proposals have also drawn the ire of the organizers.

Bill C-2, introduced earlier this year after U.S. President Donald Trump tied the threat of tariffs to Canada’s border security, would give authorities new powers to search mail, facilitate police access to personal information and make it easier for officials to pause or cancel immigration applications.

The federal government has also said the legislation is meant to keep borders secure, combat transnational organized crime, stop the flow of deadly fentanyl and help ease bottlenecks in asylum claims. The federal public safety minister signalled Wednesday that the government is open to adjusting the bill in an upcoming committee process.

Migrant groups involved in Saturday’s action say the changes would it make it harder for people to claim refugee status and easier for the authorities to revoke immigration status without legal recourse.

Bill C-5, meanwhile, was pitched as a way to speed up approvals for major projects and shore up the domestic economy in the face of U.S. tariffs.

But it’s also drawn broad criticism from Indigenous and environmental groups that fear fast-tracked projects could undermine Indigenous rights and sidestep environmental protections.

“What’s winning the trade war if it means sacrificing all these really key, important things and putting so many of us under the bus?” said Aliénor Rougeot, a climate advocate and a member of the organizing coalition for Toronto’s protest.

Palestinian solidarity also figures prominently in Saturday’s action.

It comes days after a team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council concluded Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has rejected the allegations and did not co-operate with the commission.

Carney’s government has taken an increasingly sharp tone on Israel’s actions in Gaza and across the Middle East. It has said it intends to recognize Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly this month, a move predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to governance reforms and the demilitarization of a Palestinian state.

Pro-Palestinian groups backing Saturday’s protest have been critical of conditional statehood and especially the call to demilitarize, given the ongoing conflict. Groups have also been calling on Canada to impose a full arms embargo on Israel, going beyond the current ban on arms that could be used in Gaza.

On Saturday, at least 60 actions are planned in communities across the country, with representation in every province, organizers said.

Toronto is expected to host one of the largest protests. Migrants and members of Grassy Narrows First Nation, a community plagued by mercury contamination, are expected to lead a march from Yonge and Dundas Streets to the provincial legislature at Queen’s Park.

A group is also expected to gather outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2025.