October 7, 2002
October 7, 2002, was the date of Victoria's Day of Defiance.
It began with a wildcat strike by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) workers at the University Of Victoria, and the errection of barricades and pickets by students at all road entrances to the building.
Later in the day B.C. Government Employees Union (BCGEU) workers respected at secondary picket-line at the Ministry of Health building in downtown Victoria, and refused to go to work.
A snake march started in Centennial Square and proceeded to a welfare office where the Victoria Anti-Poverty Coalition spoke of their outrage at the murderous policies of the Liberal government and the death-sentence it has placed on the poor. The march then continued to the Ministry of Health building, MLA Jeff Bray's office, and the Legislature building, where an effigy of premier Gordon Campbell was burned and a pinanta of the premier was slashed open.
Many marchers wore death-masks and flew red-and-black flags.
Before the Day of Defiance, numerous media reports warned of the potential danger possed by anarchists. Even the Solicitor-General, Rich Coleman, was quoted by the Province as saying "we have people here who think they can act like anarchists..."
The Vancouver Sun reported that the "Victoria Police feared violence and property damage", pointing out that even though there were 100 officers, plus the riot squad on hand, that the police are not only afraid of anarchists and the potential for acts of sabotage, but that they are also mostly unable to prevent such actions.
Insurrectionary Anarchists of the Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver)