A protester at a Yellow Vest demonstration in Windsor holds a sign on January 5, 2019. (Photo by Adelle Loiselle)

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Calling for stricter vetting of undocumented immigrants, a withdrawal from the United Nations, and for a defeat of the Trudeau government later this year, Yellow Vest protesters in Windsor say their movement is growing.

To a chorus of cars honking as they drove past, a small group held signs near the corner of Ouellette Ave. and Tecumseh Rd. Saturday.

Each demonstrator appeared to have their own specific reason for coming out, but together there were common themes; a call for stricter vetting of undocumented migrants, Canada’s withdrawal from the United Nations and specifically the United Nations Global Migration Pact, and the ouster of the Trudeau government in this fall’s federal election.

Critics of the pact have said it will weaken Canada’s sovereignty by opening up the borders. However, the agreement is not legally binding. Among other things, it calls for greater cooperation between countries receiving migrants and countries of origin, greater media sensitivity to coverage of migration, and access to basic services for those fleeing their home countries.

Read the final text on the United Nations Global Migration Pact here.

Each will tell you they are not against immigration and do not dispute the value newcomers bring to the Canadian economy and culture, but Dee Latta said she is concerned about the hundreds of people who have come across the Canadian border in recent years.

“We spoke to people last week that told us they have family back in their countries that have done the paperwork, have done the proper documentation and they’re waiting, waiting, waiting for years,” she said pointing out Canadian taxpayers are footing the bill to house migrants who have come across the border since the election of U.S. President Trump. “And then we have people just walking across in Quebec. And it just doesn’t seem right to me. It’s not fair.”

Canada’s Yellow Vest movement is far broader than the original Gilets Jaune movement in France.

Protesters angered by French President, Emmanuel Macron’s Green Tax triggered a political crisis as riots broke out in Paris. The protests in France started in the rural areas where workers often have to drive long distances to work and said they could not afford the Green Tax.

The Canadian movement does call on the Trudeau government to scrap its federal carbon tax, but most of the media coverage has focused on its opposition to the U.N. migration pact. A release from the local demonstrators said they are also protesting over-taxation, globalization, and the repatriation of former ISIS soldiers.

“World War One, World War Two and Korean vets; their graves are being peed on by this so-called Prime Minister,” said Mike Nemeth, a former peacekeeper. “The ISIS guys? They should have been wasted on the battlefield.”

Nemeth admits he fought under the United Nations flag as a peacekeeper, but “I don’t want to live under it.”

The local Yellow Vest Facebook page has 350 members, but Yellow Vests Canada has 101,191.

Nationally, the group says it will hold protests every Saturday in cities across Canada.