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Prince George marches in solidarity for Take Back the Night

(Cole Kelly, MyPGNow.com staff)

The 28th Take Back the Night rally marched Thursday night.

A crowd gathered at the Prince George Civic Centre for the event, the earliest worldwide movement to stand against sexual violence, especially violence against women.

Dr. Jacqueline Holler, Associate Professor, Department of History, Women’s Studies and Gender Studies at UNBC was one of the speakers preceding the walk. She began by talking about the origins of the march and the reason women need it.

“Women were told that male sexual violence was an eternal reality like death or taxes. Women couldn’t change it, they just had to try and stay out of its way. It was Take Back the Night because women were taught to fear the night and at all costs avoid being alone in it.”

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“In case you heard before you came here tonight that this march is a thing of the past, or that those things don’t happen anymore, or that everything has gone too far since #metoo, I just want to highlight a few things.”

“The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women inquiry closed in June of this year, with the issuing of 231 calls for justice and the witnessing of over 2000 people. So tonight, let us march to

Cole Kelly, MyPGNow.com staff)

honour those missing and murdered loved ones and all missing and murdered women. Let us march too for those calls for justice in the knowledge that Indigenous women and girls are still disproportionately suffering from sexual and gender-based violence,” said Holler to the crowd.

“Let us also march in the knowledge that sexual assault rates have barely budged for two decades in this country, especially in the north.”

Holler went on to list the top eight most dangerous places in Canada for sexual assault, some of them hitting very close to home.

“Yorkton, Saskatchewan; Thompson, Manitoba; Williams Lake, BC; North Battleford, Saskatchewan; Selkirk, Manitoba; Port Alberni, BC; Terrace, BC; and Prince Rupert BC.”

Take Back the Night events are held in hundreds of communities throughout Canada in September.

with files from Cole Kelly, MyNechakoValleyNow.com staff

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