Today was the last day of the Amnesty Conference and the atmosphere was electric. There was an air of excitement and energy that could probably light up Paris for a few years. The youth were so excited to march down to Parliament Hill. We were all ready with Amnesty shirts and bright smiles.When it came time, around 9:30am, we all started our march down, and everyone was talking to everyone. We were so excited to go down to our rally.
We marched all the way from the Amnesty headquarters to Parliament Hill where we had a team waiting for us with signs and material so that when we got there, we could go and head straight to action. When we got there, we organized into groups and many of us wore a blindfold to symbolize torture and to encourage Canada from turning a blind eye to torture.
We had a huge crowd come out. Like gigantic. With MPs and senators as well! The support was overwhelming. We were able to hear speeches from Amnesty International representatives, youth leaders, torture survivors and Members of Parliament as well. It was insanely awesome. I'd never been so proud to be a youth activist.
To stand with so many other activist who cared and was just as passionate as I was ... that was truly inspiring and heartwarming. Hearing from victims of violence, youth, Members of Parliament and finally, from those who had been working on the campaign for so long for these past two years really validated that sense of purpose for me. It renewed this spark within me and made me want to push further. While some of us were on the hill, at the same time, there was a press conference inside
the Hill with several people, including Amnesty International Secretary General Alex Neve and my fellow Youth Organizer Athavarn, who were speaking on the importance of ending torture.
These past two days, I have seen these amazing, passionate youth across Ontario and Quebec who came out to support the issue of torture. I wonder what amazing ideas and things could manifest if we were able to fly out youth passionate about human rights from all over Canada. It would be quite a sight to see.
As a bit of an old foggy myself, I'm really excited to see this happen in real life one day. With the world becoming a smaller and smaller place, I know a national conference, with all the youth in Canada is definitely possible. I can't wait! Today we took one step of many to combat torture. Tomorrow we take another step. And another and another. And we'll keep going until it is gone and it becomes something of history - something that belongs in a museum. Until then, us youth and Amnesty International will continue our push for torture. And we'll continue the fight for human rights, civil liberties and freedom.
