KAGAWONG—A large group of dedicated marchers took part in the first annual Women’s March in Kagawong this past Saturday in order to bring home important messages.
“This is so important,” said Meg Middleton, organizer of the march, “we are not able to be stopped any more and so we had a large group on hand who, despite the freezing temperatures, are determined to bring concerns and issues forward by marching and singing.”
Women, men and children were heard singing “Whatever I wear, wherever I go, yes means yes and no means no,” one of the many chants the participants called out as they walked from the Main Street Café parking lot to the Kagawong waterfront.
“It was nice to see that although it was freezing out, we had 60 people take part in the march,” stated Ms. Middleton. “It was wonderful.” She pointed out others wanted to take part as well. “I had a number of messages from people who said they couldn’t make it because water pipes were frozen in their homes or their cars wouldn’t start.”
Ms. Middleton explained this was the third year the Women’s March has taken place globally. The first took place on January 21 in Washington, D.C., one day after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration. “It’s nice to see and know the Women’s March isn’t just taking place in places like Washington and Toronto, but here on Manitoulin as well,” she said, adding she had friends who took part in the Women’s March in Toronto.
The theme of this year’s march globally was ‘Ending violence against women.’ “The reasons people took part in the march are so personal to them,” continued Ms. Middleton. “There are so many reasons women and men would take part in the march, from workplace inequity in pay or attitudes toward women, violence against women, the Doug Ford government cutting midwife funding, which is such an important thing for babies born here on Manitoulin, erasing the sex-ed curriculum and going back to one that was used 20 years ago.”
“There are many more reasons to march,” she said. “It was so great to see men joining women, and kids taking part in the march.”
Similar gatherings took place in more than a dozen other Ontario cities to bring public attention to issues such as ending discrimination and violence against women.
“Definitely, we are looking forward to doing this again next year,” added Ms. Middleton.
