It was another impressive turnout at the Take Back the Night march on Sept. 19, as close to 200 people marched against violence, racism and oppression.
People gathered at the N'Swakamok Friendship Centre Wednesday evening and heard from a few community members that spoke about their reason for marching.
"The reason that I'm here tonight is because I'm protesting the violence and refusing to accept the violence, but I'm also protesting the way that we talk about violence," said Laurel O'Gorman, who teaches in the women's, gender and sexuality studies program at Thorneloe University.
"Women are at higher risk than men, transgender people are at higher risk of violence, gay men are at higher risk of violence than straight men, people with disabilities, Indigenous people, black women, racialized women, homeless people, sex workers, people who are more vulnerable are at a higher risk of violence. If we try and deal with violence without acknowledging that risks can be different among different and that access to safety is different among different groups, we're going to leave people out."
Anti-colonial, anti-racist and anti-oppression were once again highlighted at this year's march, and a few of those who spoke before the march had their crosshairs focused on Premier Doug Ford's sex-ed curriculum changes.
"It's very important to me to have inclusive sex-ed in our schools," said Emily Mayville. "I didn't receive much in regards to sex-ed in school. I did most of my learning outside of school at LGBTQ2S spaces and conferences."
"In recent years there has been more development in the sex-ed curriculum so more youth will be educated on important things such as consent, safe sex, and gender identity.
"Doug Ford recently decided to repeal Ontario's new sex-ed curriculum, taking away all of the inclusive sex-ed that would better the understanding of youth everywhere. This makes me and many members of our community incredibly upset as we've just got this new curriculum and we're already having it taken away. I believe that inclusive sex-ed, and sex-ed in general can prevent harassment, assault, and dehumanizing and discriminatory behaviour."
Check out photos from Wednesday's march in the gallery above.
