About 75 people, many refugees from southern Sudan, demonstrated outside Kitchener City Hall Tuesday morning.
They want Canada to watch and help if necessary, as the region holds a referendum on independence from the north in January.
The vote comes after a 2005 international peace accord that followed decades of civil war during which millions were killed. It was a war fought over culture and revenue from the oil rich south.
Rebecca Riek is among those who fled Sudan, she says the movement started in 1956 and "so until now we've lost many, many people, many generations…fought for this war and we lost four million people in this war."
Those from southern Sudan say they are considered second class citizens to the Islamist north.
Joseph Oywak wants independence. He says "We don't like unity because they've never shown us that we can live together, or never make peace in Sudan attractive, therefore we need to go."
Samuel Kibo is a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Sudanese Community. He says "Southern Sudanese feel that this moment is going to be historic and it will really make them choose what they want, their destiny, their fate that has been denied for…years."
However, there are fears the country could fall back into a civil war if the north doesn't accept the results of the referendum.
And Kibo hopes Canada will help if that is the case.
Canada has already contributed a lot to the southern Sudan, including peacekeepers, police officers and fresh water systems that have been installed.
There are at least 1,000 southern Sudanese who call Kitchener-Waterloo their home, but they remain worried about relatives and friends back home.
They believe Canada is a model for the democracy they want in their home country, and they're hoping for the country's support.
In the mean time the United Nations has a $25 million contingency plan to provide food, water and shelter if violence returns after the referendum.
