Women's March in Regina calls for more awareness, action on women's rights issues

Though it was a slightly scaled-back version, neither the snow nor wind could slow this year's Women's March in Regina.

On Saturday afternoon, a group of 40 to 50 people in Regina braved the blustering snow to call for more awareness and action on women's rights during the annual march.

The movement has been happening every year in cities around the world since Jan. 21, 2017 — the day after Donald Trump's inauguration as U.S. president.

This year's event in Regina was held on Saturday, in order to also commemorate International Women's Day, on March 8.

Women's March YQR and YWCA Regina usually organize the Women's March in Regina, but moved most of their events online this year.

However, they're also supporting smaller marches, like Saturday's, said Maya Rivera, one of the organizers.

Speeches were given, poems were shared, cheers could be heard and signs promoting gender equality were in abundance as the group gathered in front of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, then walked the legislature grounds.

Rivera told CBC News before the march that the goal was to "show that we aren't going away. We're here. We're loud, we're proud." 

"Equal rights still have a far way to go, and we really need to focus on raising everyone's voices."

Rivera said the theme of this year's march is "We Won't Back Down."

"Something really important about this theme is intersectional feminism, which means acknowledging and kind of recognizing the different degrees of oppression and discrimination women face based on their sexuality, their race, their abilities — different things like that."

As part of that, Rivera said she wanted missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls to be a focus of the march in Regina.

The murder and disappearance of Indigenous women and girls is a systemic problem in Canada and has been labelled a genocide by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which released its final report in June 2019.

Another issue Rivera said she wants to focus on is that many women have been marginalized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think it's shown over and over again how women, especially again, when it comes to race and lower-income situations and things like that, they're just being excluded and ignored and just unsupported by the political systems and institutions that are in place in Saskatchewan," she said.

"So my goal is … to just draw attention to these issues and hope that changes can be made to better support these women."

Rivera also emphasized that gender equality and women's rights don't just affect women.

"Equal rights affect everyone," she said. "We need everyone involved — men, women, children, everyone."

The event was also supported by the social justice group Champions of Change and the University of Regina Students' Union.