Fredericton youth stand with millions taking part in ‘March for Our Lives’ rallies

More than 50 people showed up outside the New Brunswick legislature on Saturday, standing in solidarity with those taking part in the ‘March for Our Lives’ rallies across Canada and the United States.

The Fredericton protest was organized by George Street Middle School Grade 6 student Teagan Pennington.

” I love going to school and I think the fact that it’s scary for some students is sad and I just thought we should show them the support that they needed,” Pennington said.

She said it’s incredible to see youth coming together to try and invoke change.

“It’s really empowering become we’re so much younger than the people we’re going up against. We’re so much younger than those big politicians and so the fact that they’re saying ‘enough is enough’ and that they’re putting aside their fears to go and do this, it makes me feel really good,” Pennington said.

READ MORE: March for Our Lives protests take place around globe: ‘protect children, not guns’

Fifteen-year-old Fredericton High School student Alexa Grant and her 12-year-old brother Noah took part in the march that started at the legislature and went down the street to Fredericton City Hall.

“My heart breaks, it sinks in my chest because as a high school student myself, watching these kids go through this, I can’t even imagine and I just I feel so strongly about this cause.  I’ve been in lockdown situations before but never as intense as some of these students would have to go through. I mean seeing their peers, their friends… going through an experience like this, I just can’t even imagine,” Grant said.

Noah said it’s awful to hear about students his own age being shot and killed and said it means a lot to him to know that youth can come together and try to change the world.

“You hear all these things that happened and it really makes you feel like you need to go do something about it. To just think ‘I’m going to give you best wishes,’ that isn’t doing anything,” Grant said.   “You have to actually come out and take action and I thought coming here to help take action is the right thing to do. So we did it.”

READ MORE: Anger over gun laws voiced at March for Our Lives in Calgary

Nicole Richard and her son and daughter spent six years living in Nashville, Tennessee.  Originally from Nova Scotia, her family now lives in Hampton.  She said both her children had very close calls while they lived in the U.S.

“We chose to come out to support the kids from all over the U.S., but in particular the Parkland students.  They are definitely the driving force in why I’m here. I think it’s wonderful that they are organizing and they’re becoming the voice of this next generation,” Richard said.

“If we say our children are our future, we need to stand beside them now and not wait.  These are important issues and the violence has to end.”

Her daughter, 13-year-old Elsa Hankinson, was taking public transit home from school in Nashville in April 2016 when there was a shooting at Nashville’s Music City Central bus station.

READ MORE: Edmonton students hold March For Our Lives in solidarity with U.S.

“There were four teens that were shot, and I got a text message at home saying ‘I’m okay, we’re safe,’ and as a parent your stomach just drops,” Richard said.

Hankinson said it’s great to see a lot of generations understand what’s going on and how to take action to change the future.

“A lot of people really need to understand all this is really, really important. There shouldn’t be so much violence going on,” Hankinson said.