Facebook Unites Canadians to Fight Against Prorogation

"A lot of people at that rally hadn't been to a rally before,” said community activist Laurel Anne Daly about an anti-prorogation demonstration that took place in downtown Toronto on January 23. “There were old people walking with canes in the street,” she said.

People from all corners of the country- the politicians, the media, the young and the old- have banded together over the past couple months to demonstrate against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to prorogue parliament.
"People, I think, understand that it was an abuse of power," said Daly.

Facebook played a large roll in the organization of rallies across Canada.

A group created on Facebook called "Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament" informed people, united Canadians and encouraged nation-wide action.
Christopher White formed the group. He's a student at the University of Alberta, formed
There are now 224,920 members.

"This is the first time that many Canadians are getting involved," White wrote in an email regarding the mass participation of Canadians.

“That rally at Yonge and Dundas was packed. We were spilling out onto the street," Daly said. She has been attending rallies for more than 20 years, but she thinks this recent one Toronto was so successful because of the Facebook group.
Facebook made all information easy to access. The group kept Canadians informed about the issue and let everyone know about the different rallies that were taking place across the country.

"The co-ordination done by Facebook was superb," Daly said.

But Facebook can't take full credit for Canadians’ will to join the protests against Harper.
"It has only been possible because Canadians were willing to stand up and unite, take the issue off of Facebook and work towards achievable goals," White wrote.

"Facebook played a role in it," wrote White, "but I think it just tapped into an existing river of anger over the continued erosion of our democratic institution."