As the annual Women’s March took place in cities around the world on Jan. 18, the Ottawa chapter opted for an indoor launch event at City Hall, following concerns surrounding the weather.
“It’s always super, super cold. We wanted to do the launch event to sort of honour the original date, and then moving forward, we wanted to do [the march] when the weather’s just a little bit nicer so we can have more people show up and have it go on just a little bit longer,” said Emily Thompson, a Women’s March Ottawa volunteer.
Last year, Ottawa’s march was held on Jan. 19, one of the record-breaking coldest days of the year. This year, the march is scheduled to take place on March 7 to coincide with International Women’s Week, said Fatouma Ali-Ismail, Women’s March Ottawa co-chair.
The event, which began at 10 a.m., had a song performed by an Indigenous elder, t-shirt and sign-making stations, as well as speeches and dances.
“The event is initially to get people out to get ready for the march itself. Even though we’re in 2020 and we’re in the 20th century, there’s still discrimination against women—and when I say women it’s women of all genders like LGBT, trans and two-spirit,” said Ali-Ismail.
“We’re trying to change that,” she added.
The theme for this year’s march is body autonomy, which includes “sexual health and reproductive rights, sexual consent, period equality, family planning, and access to health care services and information,” said Raylene Lang-Dion, Women’s March Ottawa co-chair, in the event’s introductory speech.
“These are important times for feminists of all ages, as I’m sure we can all agree. We need to advance women’s human rights and not go backwards,” she added.
“I think girls are kind of pushed down from an early age, it even starts at school,” said Casey Sharp, 36, who brought her six-year-old daughter to the event.
“I think that’s why we have to tell them about it, how the system is set up a little bit against them right at the forefront so they can rise above,” she added.
Around 80 people were in attendance, including city councillors and Mayor Jim Watson.
“As a gay person, I think the pride march is important for me to be at, and I think it’s equally important for me to be at the women’s march as someone who cares deeply about equity and also represents the entire city,” Watson said.
“We are a very open society in Ottawa, which is a good thing, but there are still elements of sexism and racism and homophobia that sadly we see on a regular basis. I think we have to constantly do whatever we can to push back on those intolerant people who create division in our society and our community,” he added.
The launch event follows an occurrence at a city council meeting on Dec. 13, where several councillors chose to stand during the entire meeting in solidarity with women who came forth with allegations of inappropriate behaviour against Coun. Rick Chiarelli.
Having the event at City Hall sends a powerful message, said Catherine McKenney, city councillor for Somerset ward.
“To have the ‘stand-in’ that happened, I thought it was a very powerful message from the majority of my colleagues that said enough is enough,” they added.
“I believe that this is the decade that we’re going to figure it out, and we’re actually going to start listening to women—racialized women, newcomers, trans women, Indigenous women—and it will make a difference.”
Featured image by Pascale Malenfant.
