Protests against “gender ideology” in Canada’s capital city Friday brought far-right conservative Christians and Muslims together to attack Ottawa’s local school board for supporting LGBTQ+ students.

The unusual alliance was met by an equal or greater number of counter-protesters defending the rights of LGBTQ+ kids and denouncing “transphobic, fascist ideology.”

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“This is the 2023 Republican Party,” wrote gun violence activist Shannon Watts.

A new directive by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board inspired the demonstration, organized by notorious far-right Canadian provocateur Chris Elston, aka Billboard Chris.

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The all-staff notice advised the use of they/them pronouns for students until their preferred pronouns were expressed.

Video from the demonstration shows Muslim women and others encouraging young children to stomp and dance on progress Pride flags strewn on the ground and clapping with joy.

The clip shows an older white man holding a large Canadian flag leaning down to shake one kid’s hand in solidarity.

“Right on, boys!” he declares, beaming.


Shouts of “Leave our kids alone!” were heard up and down the street where the protest took place, home to two high schools and a primary school.

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“This is going to horrify Justin Trudeau,” posted Keean Bexte, with the far-right media site The Counter Signal. “All of these proponents of childhood mastectomies and penectomies are officially on notice. The minority communities that have propped up your governments have finally had enough.”

It is very rare for transmasculine teens to get mastectomies before the age of 18 and genital surgery is not performed on trans minors.

Police announced they made five arrests at the demonstration, without providing details. Scattered acts of violence were reported.

While a heat wave, fires, and smoke have enveloped the region since the beginning of June, Bexte laid recent high absentee rates at Ottawa schools at the feet of the school board and their nonbinary naming advisory, claiming parents were pulling their kids out in “silent protest” of Pride Month.

Hundreds showed up to counter the right-wing alliance.

The counter-protest “fills my heart,” said Emily Quail, an organizer and mom of a child at one of the nearby schools.

“The only way to correctly counter fascism is by showing up like this on the street and telling them we outnumber them,” she told The Canadian Press.

“We will not let them spread their transphobic, fascist ideology anywhere, here or anywhere else, and that starts with community strength and that’s what I’m really proud to see today.”

The Ottawa area school board condemned Elston for planning the protest in front of schools.

“It really raises doubts about a group that, I think it goes without saying, but it’s a group that is literally targeting children,” said Alex Silas, a school district official.

In 2020, Elston, a Vancouver insurance agent, paid for a billboard declaring, “I JK Rowling”, and then wore the message on a sandwich board at protests after it was denounced as “hateful expression” and taken down.