Women set to march through Centretown to proclaim rights
By Mackenzie White
After some 6,000 people turned up to last year’s inaugural event, organizers of the second annual Women’s March Canada: Ottawa Chapter say they are expecting even more to take to the streets of Centretown on Saturday.
The march proclaiming women’s rights and denouncing sexual violence and harassment begins at noon at Parliament Hill and winds through downtown Ottawa to the Bronson Centre, where demonstrators will take part in workshops and other activities.
“I believe there’ll be more marshals, and we realize we can’t let everybody in to the Bronson Centre,” said organizer Terrie Meehan. “We expect more people marching, but can only let a few thousand in at the end.”
The marchers will move west from Parliament Hill to Bank Street, then south to Laurier Avenue, west to Bronson and south a short distance to the Bronson Centre.
The Ottawa event is one of 45 marches scheduled to take place in Canada on Saturday. Marches are expected as far north as Whitehorse and in small centres such as Wiarton, Ont., population 2,000.
“Last year, we were hopeful to get 1,000, maybe 1,500, but the police were the ones that called us and said, ‘Yeah, no, I think you’re going to be getting a few thousand,” said Catherine Butler, another Ottawa march organizer.
While the 2017 march was seen as a direct response to the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, Butler said Canadian women have realized their issues are similar to those confronted by their fellow activists south of the border.
“In Ottawa, and in general, the theme is very much Canadian, but we’re part of the Time’s Up, we’re part of the #MeToo campaign, because of the amount of Canadians that participated and the hold it took on people here.”
The Time’s Up movement and #MeToo are two recent campaigns that have encouraged women and other victims of sexual assault to come forward about their experiences.
“I think it all comes out of similar places,” said Sara Bingham, executive director of Women’s March Canada. “With more and more of them happening over a precise amount of time – 2017 – it’s just helping women realize we have a voice.”
Activities planned at the Bronson Centre include workshops, presentations and performances.
“A lot of people don’t want to march for that long for a number of reasons — because we’re not going (from) Parliament Hill to the Aberdeen Pavilion in the cold, because people just wouldn’t do that. I’m not going to tell you what to wear as long as you dress for the weather,” said Meehan.