Groups of people rallied in cities and communities across Canada on Saturday, demanding the withdrawal of this country's troops from the NATO-led military mission in Afghanistan.

"Troops out now!" was a common chant by demonstrators across the country. Many seemed opposed to the fact Canada was involved in combat in Afghanistan, rather than carrying out a traditional peacekeeping mission.

There were nearly 200 people protesting and waving placards in Halifax, almost 500 marching in Montreal and 600 in Vancouver.

CTV News' Denelle Balfour reported there were several hundred people attending the Toronto rally, which gathered outside the downtown U.S. consulate.

Speaking from the Toronto rally, NDP Leader Jack Layton told CTV Newsnet that Canadians are not protesting to discourage the troops, but rather to support them.

"We are raising these questions to support our troops," Layton said. "Our job as citizens is to make sure we're asking them to do the right thing in the world ... there is a sense that this mission is the wrong mission for Canada and that it is not helping to achieve the goals we all have in mind for Afghanistan."

Former military cadet Francisco Juarez also spoke at the rally. He told CTV Newsnet that Canada needs a broader debate on the Afghanistan mission, both in the public and in the House of Commons.

Some military personnel felt the protesters didn't fully understand the mission.

"People just get the wrong impression of what we're doing over there," Cpl. Steven Jiovannetti told The Canadian Press Saturday afternoon as he stopped for gas in Edmonton.

Jiovannetti did a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. A large part of his job was delivering humanitarian aid.

"There's a lot of bad things happening over there, but we're there for the good of everybody," he said.

Richard Greene -- father of Lieut. Trevor Greene, who nearly died after being attacked by an Afghan militant with an axe -- recently told CTV Vancouver that he still supports the Canadian mission.

Concern about the mission

In recent months, however, there has been increasing concern about the military mission. Forty-two Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died in Afghanistan since 2002. The increasing pace of those deaths, coupled with the slow pace of reconstruction, has many Canadians questioning the support of the NATO-led military mission.

At the beginning of October, The Canadian Press released a Decima Research survey that found 59 per cent of respondents agreed Canadian soldiers "are dying for a cause we cannot win," while just 34 per cent disagreed with that statement.

However, the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute released a poll Saturday that found 55 per cent of Canadians support dangerous missions for the military if they believe the objectives are just.

Harper has continued to defend the combat mission and the slow pace of reconstruction. He says the worsening security situation, especially in southern Afghanistan, is a major cause for the delay of rebuilding efforts.

Earlier this week, a controversy arose over the number of civilian deaths following some NATO artillery and air strikes targeted at Taliban fighters. U.S. Gen. James L. Jones, NATO's  top commander, apologized on Saturday for the deaths. However, he also said: "Sadly, in asymmetric warfare, when you're battling an insurgency, typically the insurgents do not play by the same rules that we would like to play by."

A report released Wednesday by the Senlis Council recommended Canada keep its troops in Afghanistan, but also said the mission needed a change in strategy to focus more on development and aid and less on military action.

With a report from CTV's Denelle Balfour and files from The Canadian Press