Tonight, Amelia Rising Sexual Assault Centre and the Women’s March Canada North Bay chapter host Take Back the Night, at 7:00pm.
Participants will gather in front of City Hall for a few speeches and then a march. The route is south on Wyld Street, west on Main Street, north on Fraser Street and east on Worthington Street.
The event will end at Amelia Rising where all will be invited inside for tea and coffee. Anyone is welcome to join. Organizers encourage you to join in a “demonstration against oppression of all forms and especially against sexual and gender-based violence. Bring your signs, bring your voice.”
Public Educator Mary White said, “Although there are many shifts and successes in the struggle for equality we continue to fight…with an intersectional framework, recognizing that race, class, gender identity marginalizations increase risk and severity of violence experienced. We are conditioned to believe things such as needing to look down so as to not invite unwanted comments. We are still coached as to what is appropriate to wear and we still hear the ‘Well, why was she out late at night there and why was she wearing that?’ This is unacceptable and has to stop. Only perpetrators of violence are to blame.”
Take Back the Night is the earliest worldwide movement to stand against sexual violence, especially violence against women. The events began in the 1960s in Belgium and England with protests about how women were not safe walking down the street alone.
“I highly encourage anyone who has zero-tolerance for sexual and gender-based violence to come out and join us,” added White.
For more information contact, Mary White, at [email protected] or 705-840-2403. The event is also on Amelia Rising’s Facebook events page.
