Hundreds of people lined the sidewalks of downtown Owen Sound Wednesday afternoon as part of a Black Lives Matter solidarity march.
Owen Sound Police officers directed traffic at 8th Street East and 2nd Avenue East, out front of city hall, shortly after the congregation of people set off from the Farmer's Market and headed along 2nd Avenue East to their destination at the Black History Cairn in Harrison Park.
Demonstrators occupied both sidewalks of 2nd Avenue East and moved in several waves as police halted vehicle traffic occasionally at the intersection in front of city hall to accommodate the march.
Some at the front of the procession chanted “two, four, six, eight — stop the violence, stop the hate” as they walked along. Several cars honked their horns in acknowledgement of the demonstrators.
The solidarity march in Owen Sound comes as protests and rallies continue across the globe following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis last month. Floyd had his neck kneeled on more than eight minutes while being arrested by a police officer since fired and charged with second-degree murder.
Jillian Lyman, a 19-year-old graduate of Owen Sound District Secondary School currently attending Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, coordinated the solidarity march in Owen Sound. She says the death of Floyd hit her very hard.
Lyman says while she hasn't experienced anything that hurtful, when something happens to someone in your race, when your race has been oppressed — you feel it.
“It really does hurt,” Lyman says. “It brings emotion. I cried. It was very emotional. Wrong.”
Lyman says the purpose of the solidarity march is to raise awareness about the black community in Owen Sound and to help educate people about the injustices black people face.
The march occurred in the midst of a global health pandemic as several restrictions remain in place in Ontario, including a provincial emergency order that bars organized public events and gatherings of more than five people. The province’s limit on gatherings will increase to 10 people as of Friday.
Most who took part in the solidarity march in Owen Sound wore masks, but physical distancing was visibly difficult at times as demonstrators gathered outside the Farmer’s Market and moved along the sidewalks of 2nd Avenue East.