A group of almost 100 Indo-Canadian farm workers from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows showed support for their agricultural brethren in India at the corner of Lougheed Highway and Dewdney Trunk Road on Friday afternoon.
Ralliers of all ages held signs asking for passing cars to honk in support, and yelled out “no farms, no food,” to draw attention to Indian farmers who are protesting new laws enacted by the government of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.
Organizer, Mangal Sindhar, said thy believe the Indian government’s main purpose is to hand over access of the country’s agricultural industry to large corporations.
“They’re putting all the small farmers out of business,” he said.
“They want to control the market, by holding crops and releasing them at their own prices.”
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Sindhar said many of those gathered work at local blueberry farms, or greenhouses.
“We all belong to the farming community, and many of us still have some lands, or some sort of connection in India, so these new laws are very concerning.”
The protesters plan on coming back on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. to continue draw attention to the issues in their mother country.
Tens of thousands of farmers are blockading major roads and highways around New Delhi for the past couple weeks as part of protests that have been popping up across that country for two months.
ronan.p.odoherty@blackpress.ca
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