By Stephanie Girardi
October 19, 2011

Occupy Toronto protesters acknowledged the accusations that they lack a unified message at St. James Park on Wednesday.

“We don’t have straight-up mandate at this point,” said Jordan Walsh, 20. “We all have problems. They might not be the same problem, but we’re all working together to fix them.”

By Stephanie Girardi
October 19, 2011

Occupy Toronto protesters acknowledged the accusations that they lack a unified message at St. James Park on Wednesday.

“We don’t have straight-up mandate at this point,” said Jordan Walsh, 20. “We all have problems. They might not be the same problem, but we’re all working together to fix them.”

Occupy Toronto is a branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement, a people’s assembly protest which aims to shift the majority of wealth and power from what they call the top one per cent to the majority of the population – the other 99 per cent.

Much like Zuccotti Park on Wall Street, St. James Park has been all but taken over by occupiers. They have settled themselves in a tent city, where many have spent the last four nights.

The park is filled with protesters whose issues differ vastly. Signs displaying causes ranging from women’s rights to corporate greed to environmental issues are posted throughout the park, each accompanied by a spokesperson – or in some cases, a group of spokespeople – willing to state their case at the ready.

However, the protesters remain united and support one another’s cause.

“It’s solidarity,” said Rosa Bina, 52, a women’s shelter employee whose particular cause is the mistreatment of citizens in Iran at the hands of a dictatorship. “We’re here to raise awareness and support the movement.”

Stephanie Girardi is a first-year journalism student at Ryerson and originally wrote this piece for a class assignment.