By Alicia Draus

Peaceful march shows support for diversity

Feb 12, 2017 | 8:08 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB —Hundreds of people turned up for a peaceful demonstration in Veteran’s Memorial Park this afternoon to stand for diversity.

“I just thought, why don’t we reach out to our muslim community in Medicine Hat just so they know that we support them,” said organizer Shelley Ewing.

Ewing said that with recent events in the United States, like the travel ban, and the Mosque shooting here in Canada, she felt it was time to step up.

“I’ve just never, I won’t stand for racism,” she said. “I will speak up, even if I’m targeted, I’ll always speak out against it.”

Ewing admitted there was some backlash when she first posted the event on social media but said she also received a lot of support and was very happy with the turn out.

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Men, women and children of all ages and backgrounds were in attendance, many with hand made signs.

“Diversity is our strength” said several signs. “This land was made for you and me” read another.

Isra Ahmed attended the event with her family and said she’s faced discrimination before wearing her hijab in public.

“I want people to know that I’m just like one of them, I listen to music, I go to school, I drive a car.” she said.

Ahmed added that the event made her proud of the community.

“It’s really supportive and a really great thing, and I hope to see more of this stuff going around throughout Canada and hopefully here.”

Shalla Shaharyar is also a Muslim and spoke at today’s event. She told the crowd that Islam is a peaceful religion and while a common misconception is that women are oppressed, she said that is not the case.

“All the Muslim friends that I have, including me, we are fiercely independent people,” she said.

The peaceful demonstration also joined forces with a group marching for missing and murdered aboriginal women. Shauna Mary told the crowd they want the same thing and that everyone should be treated equal.

People in attendance said it was an important event for the community.

“We need to show support, there’s so much hate in the world and the world just needs more love,” said one man.

“For me it’s important because I have a 15 year old daughter and I want her to grow up with the idea that we’re all just people,” said a woman.

Organizers called the event a success and said it was great to see so many people show up.

“I absolutely think there’s more of a need for these kinds of events and I’m just very happy to be part of it,” said Shaharyar.

“When someone says something racist, stand up, speak out, don’t allow that to be the conversation anymore,” said Ewing. “That’s what we have to do.”