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Casserole Night in Tatamagouche!
Blog posts reflect the views of their authors.
Residents of the North Shore of Nova Scotia express their solidarity with the Quebec student movement. Photo: Meghan MacCulloch
Tatamagouche residents said they were there because they were against tuition hikes, austerity measures, and Harper. Photo: Helen Castonguay
"Just because we're in a small community doesn't mean we can't make a difference," says sixteen-year-old Shaani Singh.
Singh lives in Tatamagouche, a town of less than a thousand people on the North Shore of Nova Scotia.
On May 30, Tatamagouche joined over 65 communities across Canada, participating in solidarity 'casseroles' with the students and people of Quebec.
Casseroles or cacerolazos had their origin in Chile, where anti-government demonstrators banged pots and pans in the 70s and 80s. Their most recent manifestation has been in Montreal: Each night, thousands of people join their neighbours on the street - armed with wooden spoons and frying pans - to express their solidarity with the Quebec student movement that has blossomed into the 'Maple Spring.'
"When I saw the video I cried," says Lyn Sutherland of the video of Montreal casseroles that has gone viral on the web. Sutherland, who is now a grandmother, was moved by the fact that people of all ages were on the street.
Sutherland, who is also a resident of Tatamagouche, says she is happy for the opportunity to make some noise and have her voice heard. "There comes a point when you've had enough," she says of all the government cutbacks.
"It's what we need to do all across Canada," says Helen Castonguay of the mass uprising in Quebec against Bill 78, a law the Charest government enacted in mid-May in an attempt to quell student demonstrations.
"I'm hoping this will spread across Canada," says Castonguay who lives in Malagash, just outside Tatamagouche. "We need to unite against Harper and the right."
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