This Saturday: March On Vancouver takes to the streets for women's rights

March On Vancouver, now in its third year, is once again mobilizing to bring light to women’s and human-rights issues.

“We’re going to be talking about many concerns which are important to Canadians,” says Bodil Geyer, the march’s operations coordinator, “but the main theme is that women’s rights—in all forms, across all groups of women—are in need of better protection under the law.”

Taking place this Saturday (January 19) at 10 a.m., the march will begin at the Georgia Street plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery with a short speaking program.

“We have eight speakers, much fewer than last year. We wanted to streamline things and do something totally new, with fresh faces, young faces, and a very diverse set of people,” Geyer says. “Our speakers represent all the aspects of women's issues that we feel are important in the city and in the province, and that includes diversity and protections for women's rights. We’re making an effort to bring the youth and millennial crowd in, and we’ve already had many dedicated students who have worked on planning the march. It’s important for them to be empowered and have voices.”

Once under way, the march will head up Howe Street to the Law Courts building, where marchers will communicate some of the many issues that B.C. courts and the judiciary have an impact on.

"We want the legal system to know that it’s time for equal rights under the law and that we need an end to violence against women," explains Geyer. “There just hasn’t been enough progress on this.”

From the courts, the march will then wind its way back down Hornby Street and return to the Art Gallery.

While the march’s main focus is on women’s rights, Geyer is quick to point out that it also encompasses much more.

“Our slogan is resist and persist,” she tells the Straight, “and that covers a lot of issues. We’re resisting the Trans Mountain pipeline, gun violence, racism, and sexual violence. And we’re persisting—or bringing attention to—Wet’suwet’en, Indigenous rights, Black Lives Matter, disability rights, youth engagement, climate justice, and sex workers' rights.”

Geyer also notes that March On has also been persistent about electing women to local, provincial, and federal governments.

“When we change the demographics of power and we have more women, more people of colour, more diversity in governments, it fundamentally shifts the power base and takes the edge out of the one percent's ability to retain all of the wealth and power. Diversity is a direct threat to the rise of homophobia, white nationalism, and anti-Semitism, and the continued abuses of people of colour and Indigenous people.”

In past years, the march has attracted thousands of people. This year, Geyer says that organizers are hoping for upwards of 5,000 marchers, and that everyone is welcome.

“It's a family-friendly event,” she says. “We’ll even have an art station, where people can make their own signs and buttons.

“The issues that we're discussing affect all Canadians,” Geyer continues, “in effect, anyone who has a mother, a sister, or a daughter. March On is about positive change, and continuing to move the ball in the right direction, to make Vancouver, the province, and the country more inclusive and ensure that women's rights are equal across the board to their male counterparts.”