HALIFAX — Driving wind, stubborn rain and even the season's first snowfall couldn't keep hundreds of people from taking part in rallies Saturday urging the federal government to bring Canadian troops home from Afghanistan.
Protesters gathered in cities across the country to express their unhappiness with the mission in that country.
In Toronto, several hundred people huddled outside the U.S. Consulate as NDP Leader Jack Layton repeated his call for Canadian troops to be brought home.
"[The mission is] not well constructed, it's unbalanced, we're putting 10 times as much into the military side as we are into aid, and we now have famine and real problems spreading in Afghanistan," he told the crowd through the rain.
A dove sits on top of a woman's hat at a 'Bring the Troops Home' rally in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/CP)
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"It's time for Canada to take a new path."
Demonstrators included the elderly, students, children and members of the U.S. military who have chosen to come to Canada to avoid serving with American forces in Iraq.
Christopher Taske, who served in Afghanistan with the U.S. military and came to Canada with his wife Stephanie earlier this month, said his feelings were bittersweet as he stood in front of cheering supporters.
"We refuse to participate in an illegal and immoral war under the guise of freedom," he said.
Meanwhile, nearly 500 people snaked their way through downtown Montreal, sporting anti-war placards in one hand and umbrellas in the other.
"I believe this war is not against terrorism, it's against Islam," John Mallette said as he clutched a sign that read "Support our troops, bring them home."
"If you support our troops, don't bring them back in body bags."
A badly outnumbered trio of demonstrators showing their support for the Afghan mission stood a stone's throw from the anti-war protest.
"Canadians are not well informed," said George, a Lebanese-Canadian who didn't want his last name used. "Each time a Canadian dies, they talk about it for three days, and they are not saying what the Canadians are doing good in Afghanistan."
It was an opinion echoed by some who have first-hand experience of the mission.
"People just get the wrong impression of what we're doing over there," said Cpl. Steven Jiovannetti as he stopped for gas near the Edmonton Garrison Saturday afternoon.
Cpl. Jiovannetti spent six months navigating the dangerous, rutted roads around Kandahar, driving trucks carrying humanitarian aid like food, cooking fuel and school books to Afghan villagers.
"There's a lot of bad things happening over there, but we're there for the good of everybody," he said.
Across town, about 75 people braved the season's first lasting snowfall to attend the local anti-war rally.
Many acknowledged the difficulty of opposing the Afghan mission in a province with a strong military tradition.
Brian Mason, who leads Alberta's NDP, said military families in the province often look for "some really good reason why they're involved in what they're doing.
"But, I think that increasingly, some of them are starting to question why their loved ones are over there."
In Halifax, about 200 people gathered at the cenotaph in front of city hall. Some waved Canadian flags while others carried signs demanding Canada pull out of Afghanistan and NATO.
John Townsend was among those calling for Canadian troops to adopt a peacekeeping role in Afghanistan.
"I think that would send a clear message to the Afghan people that we are here for you, not against you," he said.
In Vancouver, about 600 people showed up for a rally that wound its way through the downtown core and finished in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Protesters included British Columbia New Democrat MPs Libby Davies, Dawn Black, Peter Julian and Bill Siksay.
Speakers who addressed the crowd from the steps of the gallery stood next to a life-sized George W. Bush Grim Reaper statue, which held a marionette of Stephen Harper.
Michelle Ghoussoub, 14, said being at the protest was her small way of contributing to peace.
"I think that Canada should be giving money for peace," she said. "I don't think you can create peace by war."
Demonstrations were also held in Quebec City and St. John's, N.L.
The modest crowds across the country Saturday come as a poll suggested a majority of Canadians still support the military's more aggressive role in Afghanistan.
The survey, conducted for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute, revealed that 55 per cent of Canadians are in favour of dangerous missions for the Forces, as long they believe the mission's goals are just.
But Mr. Layton remained optimistic that opposition to the mission is growing, insisting that Saturday's protests only hinted at wider-spread unease within the public.
"I think what we're seeing here is the beginning of a popular expression of deep concern, somewhat like what we saw back in the day when we were thinking about would we go into Iraq, or would we become part of the missile defence program of George Bush," he said.
"Canadians don't want to go in these directions."
There are more than 2,000 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. Forty-three Canadians have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.
