Dozens gathered outside the U.S. Consulate in Winnipeg for a rally to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policy on Saturday.
The rally at Portage and Main was one of more than a dozen across Canada, calling for family reunification of children separated from their families after trying to cross the U.S. border illegally.
The rally hit close to home for 27-year-old Matthew Shorting, who was separated from his family when he was a baby.
“I was in 11 different homes before I was six,” he said. “At six-years-old I became a permanent ward of child family services and I spent time in there until I was 18.”
Shorting said child services believed he was being neglected at home and was taken away.
He recalls many unsettling feelings after being separated.
“The worst tragedy of it is that a child will always blame themselves for what is going on,” he said “They have no way of understanding everything going on.”
Shorting believes that any child taken away from their parents will experience a negative impact for the rest of their lives, as he still struggles himself.
“I still question my self-worth at times,” he said. “It affects my relationship with others.”
U.S. President Donald Trump recently ordered that families no longer be separated, but there are still an estimated 2,000 children who have not been reunited with their parents, according to officials.
The rally also called for an end to all immigration detention in the U.S. and Canada.
Organizer Emily Leedham is pleased with the support so far, but said there is still a long ways to go.
“We know that change will come from long-term sustained organizing,” she said “It’s tedious, it’s not glamorous and this is just one aspect of the work that needs to be done.”
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