North Bay women Take Back the Night

Participants in the Take Back the Night March make their way along Main Street Friday night. Photo by Bill Tremblay.
_________________________________________________________

Nearly 100 people marched Friday night in support of women’s rights.

The event known as Take Back the Night drew more than double last year’s attendance.

“Take Back the Night is an event that happens in thousands of cities,” explained Jesse Newell, committee chair for the walk.

The night included speeches from Josmi Sodhi, Holly Brown and Annanda DeSilva. After the speeches police and organizers led everyone throughout downtown North Bay to let people know women are not happy with the way they are treated.

The group gathered at Jaeger Meisters and marched down Main Street chanting slogans like “We want freedom, we want rights, we want to walk alone at night” and “Women’s bodies, women’s lives, we will not be terrorized”.

The march, which eventually took over the street, drew people out of their houses, businesses and cars to support the action or just to see what all the commotion was about.

Sodhi told the gathering that four of five women report date-related violence, 60 per cent of men would sexually assault a woman if they knew they wouldn’t get caught and one in five men thinks rape is o.k. if they’ve spent money on a woman or if they are intoxicated.

“We are here not to be good, not to be quiet or weak we are not here to creep into our homes before the street lights come on,” Sodhi stated firmly.

“We are here to put our foot down and stand together, stop the violence and take back the night.”

Take Back the Night is a world-wide event that protests violence against women, and brings awareness that women have not yet gained equal rights

It started in England in 1970 , and the first major event was in San Francisco in 1978, where nearly 5,000 people took part.

The event debuted in Canada in the late ‘70s, but did not gain popularity until the early ‘80s.

The North Bay event was organized by the Nipissing University Women’s Centre, which is also planning a vigil Dec. 6 in memory of the Montreal massacre. For more information visit: www.nipissingu.ca/womenscentre