Women’s organization in Guelph hosting Take Back the Night march

The theme of this year's march, starting out at Marianne's Park on Thursday night, is "Our Bodies, Our Rights, Our Streets".

A march to raise awareness of sexual and gender-based violence is taking place in Guelph.

Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis is holding a Take Back the Night event starting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Marianne’s Park.

The theme of this year’s march is “Our Bodies, Our Rights, Our Streets.” In a news release, the organization said the theme is especially relevant this year, when public discussions about women’s rights and autonomy over their bodies have been front and centre in the media.

“We have some incredible guest speakers who are going to come out and share their perspective and insights on the theme,” said event organizer Cindy McMann. “We hope to get the march started around 6:15 that will take us through the downtown.”

The march is expected to end at St. George’s Park.

This will be the first live Take Back the Night march since 2019 and McMann — who also works as a public educator at Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis — says everyone is ready to get back together to have an evening of solidarity.

She says a lot has changed in the subject of sexual violence since the mass murder of 14 women at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal nearly 33 years ago.

“There has been a shift in the conversation,” said McMann. “We go from how to teach girls not to get assaulted to teaching everybody about how to respect boundaries, have healthy conservations about sexuality, and how not to assault other people.”