Parades

Orange Parade “a show of strength”

 

By Paul Cantin

Toronto Sun – July 12^th, 1998

 

While Orange parade celebrations sparked controversy and violence in Ireland, yesterday’s march in Toronto was more like a placid church picnic.

 

Several hundred marchers and band members paraded from Queen’s Park through downtown streets to St.James Park on Adelaide to enjoy a quiet picnic.

 

In Ireland the marches have become a flashpoint for Catholic-Protestant tensions, and are seen as a provocation. For those who marched and the dozens who turned out to see the parade’s conclusion at the park, Canadian Orangemen are celebrating their own religious identity, rather than trying to put down anyone else.

 

“It gets a bum rap. A lot of people are saying things about it and they don’t know anything about (the parade) and what it stands for,” said Robin Wells, who has been attending the festivities for 30 years.

 

Gerry Darroch, grand master for Ontario West of the Loyal Orange Association said he has been a member for 49 years and sees the march as simply pro-Protestant.

 

“It’s a show of the Protestant religion. It’s a show of strength,” Darroch said. “We have absolutely nothing to do with the problems in Ireland. We have no problems here in Canada.”

 

Niall Good, deputy county master of the organization’s Toronto branch, agreed the Canadian Orange associations have little in common with their Irish counterparts.” They’ve got a special situation there and they deal with it in their own way. We don’t have that situation” adding the group’s constitution specifically prohibits them from speaking harshly of any other religious group.

 

 

Submitted by John Wells – County Secretary – August 12, 2009

 

Taken word for word from Toronto Sun article of Sunday July 12^th, 1998

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