More than one thousand people marched to the U.S. embassy in Ottawa today to protest American President Donald Trump's travel ban. It was one of dozens of protests over the last couple of days around the world. On this bitterly cold day, there was a discernible feeling of warmth emanating from the crowd as they linked arms in front of the U.S. embassy chanting that refugees are welcome here.

“No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here,” they chanted, a sea of diversity in this crowd of hundreds; the very point behind this gathering.

“This is what humanity looks like,” Amira Elghawaby with the National Council of Canadian Muslims told the crowd.

The protest outside the US embassy was over the executive order signed last week by Trump that bans citizens of seven Muslim-Majority countries from entering the U.S., citizens like Ibrahim Hachi who was born in Somalia but has been living in Canada for decades.

“I'm a full Canadian citizen, I’ve been here 28 years, working for federal government,” says Hachi, “so I can't even go for work in the United States.”

Dahabo Omer is Canadian, her parents were born in Somalia, “Creating so much hate around human beings that are just seeking shelter is inhumane to me,” she says.

Some protesters were clearly drawing a link between Trump's travel ban and the attack last night on the mosque in Quebec. The National Council for Canadian Muslims says there's no evidence of that.

“We don't know,” says Amira Elghawaby with the National Council of Canadian Muslims, “obviously people are anxious right now, all this is leading to a climate of uncertainty and fear.”

Linking arms, the protesters formed what they called an unbreakable chain for justice and rights.

10-year-old Khanya Mangena was part of that crowd, “It shows Trump and anyone with him you can't ban people because people will fight back.”

To those questioning whether these protests would do any good, words of wisdom from the daughter of Maher Arar, a Syrian-Canadian who was falsely painted as a terrorist by the U.S. and sent to Syria where he was detained and tortured before finally winning his freedom back home to Canada.

“I have to believe in words, and signs and letters and petitions because these things freed my father,” Baraa Arar told the crowd.

Former NDP MP Paul Dewar was at the protest calling on the federal government to push Trump to rescind the ban -- and suggesting that Ottawa declare itself a sanctuary for people seeking refuge.