Global Climate Marches Call Out Banks as Canadian ‘Draw the Line’ Rallies Challenge Carney’s Agenda

Canadians in several major cities demonstrated Saturday against elements of the Liberal government’s climate and energy agenda, including Prime Minister Mark Carney’s support for new fossil fuel projects, while thousands of activists marched in New York to demand climate justice, free speech, an end to the immigration crackdown in the U.S., and a ceasefire in Gaza.

In Toronto, hundreds who took part in “Draw the Line” protests marched from downtown to the provincial legislature building, carrying signs that included messages advocating full immigration status for all, ending trade with Israel, Indigenous rights and a revolution against billionaires, The Canadian Press reported. Some signs featured images of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December. 

Speakers prior to the march included environmentalist David Suzuki, Grassy Narrows First Nation member Chrissy Isaacs, and others. 

Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, accused Carney’s government of “enriching billionaires” while Canada is on “the brink of a climate collapse.”

“We are here to say that whether it is climate, or economic justice, whether it’s Palestine or right here at home, we are facing a joint agenda and we will push back against it,” Hussan told the crowd. 

Speaking to reporters, Suzuki criticized Carney’s focus on creating jobs over addressing the climate crisis. 

“He’s putting the economy above the atmosphere that gives us air to breathe, that gives us weather, climate, and the seasons. That’s crazy,” Suzuki said. 

“Indigenous people tell us all the time the Earth is our mother. She gives birth to us. She nurtures us. She has got to be our highest priority,” Suzuki said, adding that climate change should be a larger priority than creating jobs. 

The protests, which occurred ahead of the federal government tabling its budget on Nov. 4, also included marches in Ottawa, Edmonton and Montreal. 

Canada has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 40 to 45% below 2005 levels by 2030, but Carney has repealed the consumer carbon price and paused the Liberals’ electric vehicle mandate.

Currently, Canada’s emissions are about only 8.5% below what they were in 2005, and Carney and his ministers have refused in recent weeks to say whether Canada is still committed to its 2030 and 2035 targets, though the government says it is still focused on hitting net-zero by 2050.

Carney has said he wants to make Canada “climate competitive” and has said his climate plan is forthcoming.

George Westel, who was at the Toronto protest and represented a group called Stop 413 East End Toronto, said everyone in Ontario is at risk of being hurt by the climate crisis. 

“Climate change is affecting migrant workers, it’s affecting Indigenous people,” he said after the group reached Queen’s Park. “This province is called a place to grow, and we are losing that place to growth.”

In Vancouver, hundreds of protesters listened to speeches outside a downtown library before marching several blocks. 

Mark Hancock, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, told the crowd that many people feel a sense of urgency on issues including skyrocketing housing and food costs. 

“New Canadians and migrant workers are worried about their future here in this country,” Hancock said. “We cannot allow this government or anybody to say that migrant workers are the problem.”

Carney said earlier this month that the government plans to return immigration rates to “sustainable levels,” which includes reducing the number of non-permanent residents to less than 5% of the total population. He said that adjusting the temporary foreign worker program to target specific sectors and needs in specific regions, as well as improving immigration policies, was tied to easing the strain on housing, public infrastructure and social services.

Many protesters in B.C. objected to the federal government fast-tracking liquefied natural gas expansion projects in B.C., which Vancouver resident Robert Hornsey said would result in the depletion of groundwater. 

“The LNG is a boondoggle. What you need to do is invest in renewable energy, wind, air, solar, tidal and thermal,” Hornsey said. “B.C. has a massive geothermal reservoir that it has not used or exploited.”

Another event attendee, Ann Grant, was holding her handmade big pink balloon printed with Carney’s face that read “killing the planet.”

New York Rally Demands Climate and Social Justice

In New York, thousands of activists marched down Park Avenue and turned down Billionaires’ Row toward Trump Tower to “Make Billionaires Pay,” calling for climate justice, democracy, free speech, gender equality, a stop to the Trump’s immigration crackdown and a ceasefire in Gaza, The Associated Press reported.

Their signs and reasons for taking to the streets were diverse, but many said the march highlighted a common theme behind the issues they stood for: that a small, elite class of the wealthy and powerful consistently prioritized profits over people’s lives.

“I don’t see them as movements. I don’t see them as organizations. I just see humanity. We are all on this Earth. This is our mother,” said Mahaishuwea, whose name means Eagle Woman in the language of the Hidatsa tribe, which is based in North Dakota.

As marchers gathered, she spoke about her personal experiences growing up on the Fort Berthold Indian reservation, where she survived cancer. Standing in front of investment management company Blackstone’s headquarters, she connected the violent history of colonization and resource extraction on Indigenous lands to the present-day greed of the powerful. “They have a sickness,” she said.

Demonstrations have been planned around the world this week ahead of the United Nations General Assembly and New York Climate Week. Despite years of international conferences, negotiations and treaties, countries have continued to increase their emissions of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, fueling more frequent and intense extreme weather events. 2024 was the hottest year on record, and the Trump administration has been working to roll back foundational environmental rules. This has freed the way for oil and coal industries to pollute more while presenting more roadblocks to wind and solar energy development.

‘One Big Fight’

Tamika Middleton, managing director of the Women’s March, said that although it sometimes can be challenging to bring together people who are passionate about different causes, this year the intersections between them felt clearer. “The climate crisis, economic fights and immigrant fights are all really one big fight,” she said.

The crowd stretched for over four city blocks and passed by luxury stores like Louis Vuitton, Bergdorf Goodman and Tiffany & Co. Some carried enormous papier-mache puppets of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. Several grabbed the edges of a 160-foot “climate polluters bill” calling out the economic damages wrought by extreme weather events made worse by the carbon emissions of major polluting companies.

Others dressed as the Statue of Liberty, rang cowbells and waved flags with the Star Wars character Princess Leia or homemade signs inked in sharpie and paint. One simply read: “Free Kimmel.”

Tatiana Cruz was one of the people holding up the puppet of Elon Musk. “Eat the rich, that’s the main message,” she said, smiling. But she also explained that this was her first year actively protesting more after two of her friends were deported after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Since then, she has gotten more involved in movements for migrant rights, Palestinian liberation and fighting climate change.

“The monster up top is similar in a lot of different scenarios,” she said.

Julia Donahue-Wait had come out from the South Bronx with a group of families who had started organizing together and also described the many causes present at the march as interconnected. Her young daughter Eurydice has grown up on picket lines and helped with the poster painting. Behind her, another protester held a sign: “Our work is love,” it read.

“It’s all people without power taking it back,” Donahue-Wait said. “What we say to the kids is, we have safety and we need to stand up for people who don’t have safety.”

Mahaishuwea said although many people are scared, she thought it was important to show up.

At the end of the march, protesters held a five-minute moment of silence during which they sat in front of the Trump International Hotel and Tower.

Cover photo:  A 'Draw The Line' march in Toronto on Sept 20. 2025. (Sarah Hassanein/350.org/flickr)