More than five hundred people gathered at the legislature in Regina for the 1 Million March 4 Children to stand for parental authority and against transgender ideology in schools.. Million March Regina 3 .The gathering began at 9 a.m. at Wascana Park opposite the legislature. Several speakers addressed the audience until they marched north across the Albert Street Bridge to City Hall downtown, then north again..The parade was long enough where the last stragglers headed north could see marchers returning south on the other side of Albert Street back to the legislature. Many passers-by honked their horns in support as they walked down the city’s main north-south thoroughfare..Signs included “Parents know best,” “Teach grammar, not gender,” “Let kids be kids,” “First do no harm,” and “Hands off our kids.” Others had more targeted messages, such as “STF hates families,” speaking of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation..A small counter-protest of roughly a dozen people gathered at the legislature..Regina mother of three Fortini Hayward was one of the speakers. She told Western Standard she had also attended the Ottawa convoy and pro-life events..“We just want to stand up for our beliefs publicly, I guess. We don't believe that children should be indoctrinated or groomed in schools,” she said..Hayward wonders how much education contributes to the proliferation of transgender children..“If you look at the statistics, like it's just this overwhelming number of trans kids coming from somewhere,” she said..“There was a transgender child in my son's school before, and he had two moms. And I just wonder how much of that is just sort of nurture over nature.”.Hayward homeschools her children now, and watches influences on her autistic sons carefully..“If one of my children decided they were trans, they would support them, and print off journal articles to try and convince me to support my child's transition.”.The mother, who is of Orthodox faith, said she noticed two “brave” teachers at the rally. She believes gender transitions for children must be stopped..“I feel like Scott Moe is doing the bare minimum by having parental consent for social transition. Things need to be done in healthcare and other sectors where we're actually like giving hormones to these kids. We need more safeguards in those places..“Until we have more long term and robust data, I don't think we should be medically transitioning any kids here.”.Attendee Dennis Kraushaar believes the trend of bathrooms divided by gender, not biological sex is misguided, as are many media influences that have captured both children and their parents..“To me, it’s an unnatural event that’s going on. There’s a lot of confusion on the kids, and I think in the end it leads to a lot of mental problems and eventually suicide,” he said..One of the Regina resident’s 12 grandchildren is a 14-year-old who transitioned from male to female three years ago, though not with any hormones or surgeries. He said they still refer to the child by their birth name..“I don't know where it started. Sometimes kids get a lot of trouble at school where they're bullied, and they look for a way out. I'm not sure what the whole deal is,” he said..“We were told in our house that if we didn't call him that name, he probably wouldn't want to visit with us, which is not true. We just have values that we hold…He's a really nice kid. We love him, and we have for a long time and still do. So, it's confusing. I can see his whole life is gonna be confusion. And it's just a trail I don't want him to be on.”.The grandfather said he is approaching 70 years of age but is concerned for the future those younger will face..“I'm really concerned with these kids, ten, 15 years down the road, what position they'll be in, what state of mind. I don't even think the government understands what's happening and what’s going to happen,” he said..Government has encroached on parents and educators, he said..“With the school system here, that's another thing. Liberties have been taken away from parents, normally they would have with the kids, [such as] discipline,” he explained..“Governments aren't here to raise kids, they’re here to educate them. Same as teachers, I have a daughter that's a teacher and she understands but she can't do nothing, say nothing. You have to go with the flow.”.Angie Luston, who recently moved to Regina believes bad education is harming children..“I believe that what's going on in the schools is absolutely child abuse. There's no doubt about it. That’ sexual abuse on children, what they're forcing what they're programming and what they're grooming them with,” she said..“I believe it needs to change, I believe it needs to stop.”.Luston came alone but believes she doesn’t stand alone..“I know there's thousands, millions in the world who understand this. It's just Canada's a little bit messed up,” she said..“Canadians watch too much TV, winter’s too long. I don't know. They just sit and get programmed. The parents are dumbed down. The children are being ruined. This is Canada. Welcome to chaos.”.Luston also believed it helped that Muslims launched the event..“Christians can't do anything these days…When we've tried to do this in Calgary and stuff, the police come in and shut you down. They just arrest everybody. But if Muslims do it, that's okay,” she said..“So the Christians can join the Muslims and it's still okay, but the Christians can't start it because the police get in.”.Former Sask Party MLA Warren Michelson, who attended the march, was encouraged by the many who came out..“I'm pleased to see such a turnout in support of family and support of children and the right thing to do. I think it's appalling that there's even any objections to the legislation that Scott Moe and the government brought to help and to do the right thing as far as protecting family, particularly children. Everybody knows that, at that minor age, you're not capable of making the kind of decisions that are going to affect them for the rest of their lives,” he said..“Parents, if anything, need more control. It's unfortunate our society has gone from where mom and dad used to raise the children to now they have the children and the government is responsible for daycare, for schooling, so that those controls have been taken away and cut down,” he said..“It's time that the good people come out and stick up for the rights of the parents, and the good of the children. Nobody has more interest in the welfare of the children and the parents. And I think it's very important that they are part of the decisions that are made.. A small counter-protest of roughly a dozen people gathered at the legislature, causing march supporter Pastor Femi Ogunrinde to reflect..“We're not against people, but should not be against the fact that we're parents and we have the right to defend our children. This is our God-given rights and privileges. For someone who now wanted to turn my kids against me, it just doesn't work. I'm responsible for those kids.”.Ogunrinde said he moved from Nigeria to give his children a good education in Canada. He said God and nature show children are the responsibility of their parents, not the government..“I want to stand for the kids, to protect the kids, not to take my rights away from me as a parent,” he said. “These are fundamental rights guaranteed under the law anywhere, any day.”
