Demonstrations
Throughout the 20th century Canadian citizens have been concerned with political, social and economic injustice. On numerous occasions, Canadians took to the main streets of their cities with placards and gathered in public places to demonstrate their points of view. Media coverage of these demonstrations raised the level of discussion beyond the street and in many cases, affected the political agenda of the day. These images from the Toronto Star Photo Archive are a small sample of the rich tradition of protest and demonstration. During the Depression, newspapers showed photos of relief camp workers and long lines of the unemployed. The 1960s and 1970s saw numerous protests against racism and for civil rights. Canadians showed they cared about the world and protested, for example, apartheid in South Africa, the Vietnam and the Persian Gulf Wars, and the Chinese occupation of Tibet.