Leveraging street protest theatre traditions, the Toronto Red Rebels show up to climate justice and protest rallies wearing blood red, other worldly, flowy head dresses and gowns. They move in peaceful procession, slowly, with intention, performing rehearsed thought-provoking and emotionally arousing choreographed movements. With their faces painted mime white, Toronto’s Red Rebels protestors don’t say a word. Yet their skillful, silent performance send a clear, raging message to governments and corporations:  Stop killing the planet –and us. Toronto’s Red Rebels with the Grassy Narrows Indigenous community demanding justice for mercury poisoning in 2023. From front to back: Susan Harris, Jane Davidson-Neville, Christine Dunbar, Mary Love, Harvey Skinner.

The Toronto Chapter got its spark when former union, feminist activist Jane Adams learned about the idea and soon after, pulled together a group of friends to watch Red Rebel Brigade’s first protest performance during the April 2019 Extinction Rebellion Spring Uprising on YouTube. The then nascent, UK based protest concept was created by Doug Francisco, a well-known British multidisciplinary artist and theatre director, and Justine Square, an acrobatic circus artist and seamstress.

Since their debut, Red Rebel chapters have sprung up in different countries and cities across the globe. The movement aims to grow and encourages new chapters to form freely.

So far, the Toronto Red Rebels are the only chapter operating in Canada. Their next performance is planned for Saturday, April 26 at Allan Gardens (Toronto) in celebration of Earth Day 2025. They have participated in dozens of events.

“At the moment there are about 19 of us,” said Adams. “Our first event was a “End Fossil Fuels” rally at Toronto’s Queens Park in 2023. We managed to create quite a stir. People took a lot of........

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