Baie-D'Urfe Mayor Maria Tutino says a protest by animal rights advocates at a recent public meeting to talk about the relocation of a local daycare may have backfired on demonstrators.
Tutino said the families and children present at that July 17 meeting were shaken and upset by the group's attempt to crash the meeting and enter the Whiteside Taylor daycare auditorium.
Dozens of protesters were outside the daycare when city officials arrived for the 7 p.m. meeting, demonstrating against the alleged animal testing at the International Toxicology Research Laboratories, located in Baie-D'Urfé's industrial sector.
With the meeting underway, some protesters attempted to push their way into the auditorium.
"We took the opportunity to walk into the meeting and speak to the Mayor and the six city councillors because it's not often that they're all sitting in the same room all together," explained animal rights activist Marla Kouri-Towe.
The protesters were blocked at the door and police were called, but no arrests were made.
Mayor Tutino denounces the disruption and tells the Montreal Gazette that the public meeting was not the time or place for a protest. She explains that the town doesn't have the power to expel the company from its territory or to investigate it and suggests the group take up its cause with the provincial or federal government.
Kouri-Towe argues that the protesters walked in peacefully, voiced their concerns for about four minutes, and then left peacefully.
She says the group has already reached out to the Canadian Council on Animal Care in Ottawa about the issue, but nothing has changed.
Kouri-Towe says she plans to keep protesting in Ottawa, Quebec City, and Baie-D'Urfé until something is done and hopes to gather support from other concerned citizens.
With files from the Montreal Gazette.