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Love in the face of hatred

North Bay was one of dozens of communities in Canada rallying in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington on Saturday in light of President Donald Trump's inauguration
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Many gathered Saturday afternoon in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington. Photo courtesy of Candace Ghent.

Love was the theme of the rally Saturday afternoon in light of the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump.

Despite being in a different country with different laws, it didn’t stop the crowd of nearly 80 individuals from organizing in downtown North Bay to demonstrate solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington—and North Bay was not alone, with thousands of Canadians gathering in cities and town across the country.

Various signs were displayed, some reading 'mind your own uterus,' combating words and behaviour Trump has displayed against women over the years, brought to light during his electoral campaign. And the words, 'love Trumps hate,' playing on the name of the new president and encouraging positive behaviour in the light of hatred. 

The rally, organized by Lorin Young, saw a large group of the community certainly did rally, gathering at the Discovery Museum and walking to the park at Main and Fraser. One of the people in attendance, Candace Ghent, who’s been following U.S. politics this election, heard of the rally through a colleague who works at Nipissing University.

“It was important to me to gather with other members of the North Bay community and to show solidarity with the other marches happening today,” Ghent said. “There are a lot of people in the US who are fearing for their safety, whether access to healthcare, etc. and I believe that we also need to be vigilant to ensure that we are fighting those same kinds of actions that impact our most marginalized communities. It is important that we gather as a community to show that we are paying attention and that we care about each enough to fight with and for each other.”

Despite the differences in countries, Ghent felt there were also a lot of similarities—enough to give cause for caution moving forward.

“Both countries have a history of systemic oppression of marginalized groups and both countries are embracing neoliberal agendas which are causing our social supports to shrink or disappear altogether,” Ghent said, noting the rally was a great show of community solidarity and hoped it could be a point of contact for members of the community to further organize and support one another.

BayToday.ca will update this story.

-With files from the Canadian Press.


Ryen Veldhuis

About the Author: Ryen Veldhuis

Writer. Photographer. Adventurer. An avid cyclist, you can probably spot him pedaling away around town.
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