Take Back the Night Rally and March

Name: Take Back the Night Rally and March
Start: 2024-09-20T18:30:00-06:00
Location: Wilbert Mcintyre Park

Schedule

Fri Sep 20 2024 at 06:30 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

Wilbert Mcintyre Park | Edmonton, AB

Take Back the Night is an annual event where we affirm our right to walk the streets, night or day, in safety. We ask no one’s permission, and together we raise our voices to say NO! to all forms of violence against women, YES to women’s empowerment, for our right to fully participate in all spheres of life, and for our right to decide concerning our reproductive rights.
All humans who stand against violence are welcome to join us at this year’s rally and march on Friday, September 20th beginning at 6:30 at Gazebo Park (8331 104 Street). We will march together on Whyte Avenue to affirm our right to be safe wherever we go – in the streets, in our homes, in our workplaces, and in public life. Light refreshments will be served in the park following the march.
Women for Rights and Empowerment has been organizing Take Back the Night rallies and marches since 2015, but the tradition goes all the way back to 1980, when the third Friday of September was designated as the day to Take Back the Night!
On this occasion we demand that action be taken to end the crimes against Indigenous women and provide redress. We hold the state fully responsible for its failure to implement the 231 calls of the Final Report on MMIWG, a continuation of the genocidal aims which have been
official policy since the creation of Canada.
We march for an end to the conditions in which in Canada a woman is killed every 48 hours, and where safety in our workplace is considered a “cost” by employers and workers as disposable, and where governments are blaming migrant workers and immigrants for their failure and refusal to provide safe and affordable housing.
We stand with the Palestinian resistance and demand that Canada stop arming Israel and end all support for the genocidal Zionist regime.
Speakers will include women workers including migrant workers, Indigenous women, Palestinian women, women sex workers, all who are fighting for their dignity and rights.
Through these actions taking place across the country, women say No Means No! to all forms of gender-based violence and interference with the human person, whether by individuals or by the state. Walking together at night represents our strong sense of responsibility for each other and our commitment to act together to end the state inspired and sanctioned violence that is woven into our society and to build a new reality where women and all humans can live in dignity.