OTTAWA, April 11, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The official estimate of the crowd given by March for Marriage organizers at the huge rally before Parliament on Saturday was 20,000. RCMP confirmed the number at more than 15,000. While the national broadcaster CBC went with the police estimate of 15,000, much of the biased Canadian media reported 4000 attendees, a falsehood demonstrating a bias beyond even a mediocre attempt at fair and balanced coverage.
Among the speakers were Official Opposition Leader, Stephen Harper, former Alliance Leader Stockwell Day, and about another dozen Conservative MPs. Liberal MP Pat O’Brien was also present along with Conservative Senator Anne Cools. Liberal MP O’Brien said “This is the largest protest I have ever seen on Parliament Hill.”
John Pacheco, the principal organizer of the March wrote to CanWest news service regarding a report by CanWest and CP reporters Eric Beauchesne and Jim Bronskill which claimed only 4000 attended the March. “I do not understand how such distortion can further your credibility with thousands of residents of Ottawa who were there and know the truth,” wrote Pacheco. “And it was a slap in the face to the thousands who travelled 5-8 hours from all parts of Ontario and Quebec to attend the rally,” he added.
LifeSiteNews.com reporters at the March interviewed leaders responsible for bringing groups in the thousands to the March. Rev. Dominic Tse, of the Chinese Christian community represented a group of over two to three thousand people attending the March. “The Chinese community is solidly against bill C-38 because marriage is such a central institution for the Chinese culture in general and we don’t want the government or courts to touch this definition of marriage,” he said.
Sikh leaders told LifeSiteNews.com that some 500 members of their community would be participating the in March. Hajeed Singarewal, from the group Sikh Humanity, told LifeSiteNews.com they were at the March to “oppose this bill, because it is against nature, against society, against humanity, it is very dangerous to the future generations.”
Sammy Caoud, of the Coalition of Muslim organizations, a coalition of 70 mosques and Muslim organizations in the Greater Toronto Area, told LifeSiteNews.com “we are against bill C-38 because it tries to redefine 2000 years of the definition of the marriage, we object to that based on our religion and on the common moral sense.” Caoud said the numbers of the Islamic community expected at the March were anywhere from two to five thousand.
Several dozen members of the Knight of Columbus in full regalia along with a marching band lead the huge crowd in the March from the Supreme Court to Parliament Hill.
Media bias was seen to be a sore spot for the massive crowd as the most vigorous cheering came when Presbyterian Minister Tristan Emmanuel of Equipping Christians for the Public Square addressed the media, telling them: “I have a message for you…I challenge you to be the MEDIA OF THE PEOPLE!!!! Be the media of the people, not the media who seeks to impose its liberal agenda. I challenge you to report that thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands showed up on this historic day to defend MARRIAGE!”