Activists holding coffins and wearing masks protested the Afghanistan mission on Friday, during a military parade in Quebec City to honour soldiers heading for the war-torn country.
Members of the War on War Coalition said they were criticizing the mission but not the troops, who were members of the Royal 22nd Regiment, popularly known as the Van Doos.
The soldiers, expecting the protest, tried to confuse the activists by marching in the opposite direction as the parade began. But the activists soon caught up.
"We want to tell people that we are against sending our troops to Afghanistan, because this war is unjustified," Mathilde Forest-Riviere, spokesperson for the War on War Coalition, told 麻豆影视net.
Canada's mission in Afghanistan is set to continue until February 2009.
But NDP Leader Jack Layton said Canada should stop aggressive military action in the war-torn country and move towards political negotiations.
"It's a war that clearly has no end in sight. It's not improving the lives of the people of Afghanistan -- in fact, what it's doing is building support for the Taliban," Layton told CTV's Mike Duffy Live on Friday.
"A whole new approach should be underway here, and Canada should be in the forefront of that approach, leading to a cease-fire and a comprehensive peace process."
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, speaking in Montreal after he reviewed an honour guard, said military operations are still crucial in Afghanistan.
"We are in combat because there are, unfortunately, still many people in Afghanistan who do not want to see reconstruction and development, but want to see that nation sliding back into the black hole where it was before 2001," he said.
De Hoop Scheffer has urged all 26 NATO allies to maintain their missions in the country beyond 2009.
Sixty military personnel and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since Canada started military operations in 2002.
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said troops still believe in the mission, despite the casualties, and rising criticism of the war in Quebec.
"The morale is very high, as the morale is very high in Afghanistan. The troops believe in what they're doing and they're all volunteers," O'Connor told Mike Duffy Live.
"Yes, every casualty affects the military in the sense that it's one of their brothers or sisters, but they carry on with the mission."
On Thursday, more than 2,000 soldiers from Quebec's CFB Valcartier, where the Van Doos are based, gathered in Montreal to hold a tailgate party and watch the Alouettes play against the Toronto Argonauts.
It was an attempt to raise support in the province, where a recent poll by Leger Marketing suggested 70 per cent of Quebecers oppose sending the Van Doos to Afghanistan.
The soldiers have also received about 3,000 letters urging them not to carry out their duties.
With a report from CTV Montreal's Jim Grant and files from The Canadian Press
