Grey clouds and drizzly conditions didn’t deter more than 100 Whitehorse residents from gathering downtown at noon Tuesday to denounce racism.

Some carried signs reading “Dismantle racism” and “Hatred has no home here”, and donned pins and patches with similar messages as they circled the Healing Totem off Front Street.

The diverse group included Commissioner Doug Phillips, Justice Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee, Yukon Party whip Brad Cathers and even a few dogs.

They were assembled for a peaceful anti-racism rally sparked by recent white supremacist demonstrations and violence across North America.

Speakers at the event shared their experiences with racism, messages of love and unity and inspirational quotes.

Yukon MP Larry Bagnell applauded the work of territorial groups like the Interfaith Dialogue and the anti-racism committee at Whitehorse city hall that are working against prejudice.

He also spoke about opposition to M-103, a non-binding motion passed in the House of Commons last March that condemns Islamophobia and religious discrimination.

“I’m very normally a tolerant person; people can have their own views on things, but I totally have no tolerance for intolerance,” he told the crowd.

Antoinette Oliphant, the owner of Antoinette’s restaurant on Fourth Avenue, gave a passionate speech about some of her experiences with racism and how respect and getting to know people can eradicate hatred.

“Get to know somebody you don’t know, get out of your circle,” she urged.

“Do you know somebody black? Do you know somebody First Nations? Do you know somebody transgender?

“Do you know somebody that’s lesbian? Come out of your circle; you’d be amazed how much we are alike.”

Muhammed Javed, the president of the Yukon Muslim Society, which is currently working on building the first mosque in the territory, spoke about the strength of community.

“As startling as it may have been, what happened in Charlottesville (Virginia) was not a random act; the seed of racism started a long time ago,” he said.

“Though we like to think that these simple-minded beliefs have been eradicated, they still exist. Racism is pervasive and it does not die after a civil war, after government negotiation and reparations, and it will not die today.”

But, Javed noted, “Our empathy, kindness and willingness to learn from others weakens hatred everyday.”

Lillian Nakamura-MaGuire, a long-time advocate for human rights in the Yukon, shared how her parents rights were taken away 75 years ago.

Japanese immigrants who moved to Canada in 1937, during the Second World War, they were forcibly removed from their newly built home in B.C. and their belongings were sold off. Her father was sent to a work camp and her parents later also toiled at a sugar beet farm in Manitoba.

Nakamura-MaGuire said the government’s apology to Japanese-Canadians and recognition and settlements for other wrongdoing have played an important leadership role. But she noted there is also individual responsibility to speak out against injustice and inequality.

“Let’s work towards equity, dialogue, respect and peace,” she urged.

“It takes a whole community to build this culture of peace, and we must do this everyday, and we can do this together.”

Following the speeches, the crowd adorned the sidewalks by the wharf with messages of peace and love in colourful chalk.

The rally was organized by David Skelton and Julianna Scramstad of the newly founded group Yukoners Against Racism to stand in solidarity with those who resist racism for daily survival.

“As a white guy, I don’t feel what may people feel every single day,” Skelton told the crowd.

“My opportunities are so much greater than so many people in the world that we’re standing next to, or sometimes that we are at great distance from, and that is not a good thing.”

He told the Star he was prompted to organize the event out of fear from the threat that racist extremism poses.

One of his concerns, he noted, is that Soldiers of Odin Canada has a chapter in the Yukon.

“It’s important for people here to know that that kind of international group is up here, that kind of hatred, that organized hatred, is up here,” he explained.

The international organization was founded in Kemi, Finland in 2015 as an anti-immigration group in response to the influx of asylum seekers in Europe.

The group’s founder, Mike Ranta, is also a self-professed white supremacist. But the Yukon chapter has insisted it’s a community watch group not affiliated with those views.

Skelton also stressed the importance of acknowledging the relationship between a colonizing white society and Indigenous people.

“The situation for First Nations people in Whitehorse, in Canada, is appalling, and everyone has to get that; the government has to understand that, the people on a daily basis have to understand that they are benefiting from that kind of apartheid,” he said.

But Tuesday’s rally has made him feel hopeful, and he hopes to organize similar events in the future.

The rally in Whitehorse is one of many anti-racist gatherings that have recently been held across the country.

Last Saturday, about 4,000 people attended a rally at Vancouver city hall in response to an extreme right protest.

Many of these gatherings have been inspired as a response to the white supremacist demonstrations in Charlottesville earlier this month.

Heather Heyer, 32, was killed after a car plowed through a crowd of anti-racist protestors on Aug. 12.

James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Ohio, has been charged with second-degree murder and other counts in relation to the incident.