Ce sont environ 600 personnes, toutes habillées de rouge, qui ont répondu à l’invitation de Mères au front samedi dernier de faire une « chaîne de l’amitié » à la frontière sur une terre de Frelighsburg. Des gens étaient réunis des deux côtés de la frontière pour lancer un message de solidarité et « dénoncer les dérives du président Trump ».
Translation:
Show of solidarity between Americans and Canadians
Xavier Demers - Le Guide de Cowansville - 21 August 2025
About 600 people all dressed in red answered the call from Mères au front last Saturday to form a “friendship chain” at the border on land in Frelighsburg. People gathered on both sides of the border to send a message of solidarity and to “protest the abuses of President Trump.”
About 600 people all dressed in red answered the call from Mères au front last Saturday to form a “friendship chain” at the border on land in Frelighsburg. People gathered on both sides of the border to send a message of solidarity and to “protest the abuses of President Trump.”
Speakers at the event included Innu activist Mélissa Mollen Dupuis, Canadian American citizen and Montpelier Strong Indivisible co founder Miriam Hansen, Mères au front co founders Laure Waridel and Anaïs Barbeau Lavalett, lawyer and historian Bruce Johnston, as well as actresses Brigitte Poupart and Lesly Velázquez.
Catherine Major and some children also performed the song L’hymne à la beauté du monde (The Hymn to the Beauty of the World).
“We are in a time where there’s a kind of fatigue and it worries me on a deeper level ,” Ms. Waridel said in an interview. “These are conditions of apathy and disengagement that resemble what happened around the Second World War. People feel like it’s a madman, but little by little, democracy is being harmed—just as the rule of law that protects our basic values of justice. I find that very worrying.”
“The moral component of the story is this question: when it mattered, did you choose power or justice? Let’s choose justice!”Bruce Johnston, lawyer and historian
This gathering was held in conjunction with about forty other similar events at the Canada–US border, the US–Mexico border, and in several major U.S. cities.
It’s a follow-up to a protest held in Frelighsburg on March 8y to protest the rise of a movement opposed to women’s rights and democracy.
“The images from Frelighsburg left a strong impression,” explained Ms. Waridel. “They were seen at the Mexico border by an organization working on migration and human rights issues in San Diego with people from Tijuana. They found it so inspiring that they said they had to do something like that in the United States—and build it around friendship.”
DEFENDING RIGHTS
Laure Waridel stated that the time has come “to protect our fundamental rights.”
“United, we are stronger,” she insisted. “Now is the time to rise together—with Americans who resist, with Canadians, and with all those who face injustices. We cannot hope to protect the environment and our children if we don’t have a democracy—a system that allows us, together, to protect what is most beautiful.”
The gathering took place at her home. Being right on the border, she can feel the tension.
“No matter who we are or where we come from, we feel threatened right now. It’s not a good feeling. It doesn’t make us happy. Especially when you’re close to the border and hear the helicopters—there is something odious in the context when it’s not necessary.”
“Links have been forged with our American friends,” she added. “If things happen in the future, we will be there for each other.”
