Fraser Valley Marches for Women 2020 will hit the streets of Chilliwack on Saturday, Jan. 18.
“The goal is inspiring, uniting, and leading the charge for the advancement of women locally and across the world,” co-organizer Patti MacAhonic said.
Sign-making and gathering starts at 11 a.m. in the Ann Davis parking lot on Young Road. Marchers will be heading out at 11:30 a.m. heading to City Hall along Young Road, with speakers joined by traditional singers and drummers starting at noon.
“We are more than a march—we’re a movement,” MacAhonic said.
The Fraser Valley event focused on women’s rights and inclusion was founded by MacAhonic, who was inspired after attending the 2017 women’s march in Vancouver. The local event has grown into a larger collaboration with community partners University of the Fraser Valley, Fraser Valley Labour Council, and Wilma’s Transition Society.
RELATED: Watch the march in Chilliwack from 2019
“The goal of subsequent marches in the Fraser Valley was to support women’s rights locally and globally, while raising awareness of local issues.”
The numbers of participants are growing with each march.
Chilliwack held its inaugural women’s march in January 2018, with more than 100 people demonstrating, inspired by the massive Women’s March on Washington, D.C. and across the globe held in 2017 to demand women’s rights and to condemn the misogyny of U.S. President Donald Trump.
But the impetus for acting locally was also a response to the Chilliwack council decision to turn down a women’s shelter proposed for Five Corners, at a time when women were “dying on our streets” in winter of 2016, MacAhonic said.
READ MORE: The inaugural Chilliwack march in 2018
Fraser Valley Marches for Women is LGBTQ2S+ inclusive and strongly supports reproductive choice, and the march will go ahead rain, snow or shine.
This year’s speakers will feature inspirational words by Dionne McGrath, elder and indigenous cultural advisor, DJ Pohl from the Fraser Valley Labour Council, and MacAhonic of ADTS. The event emcee will be Willow Reichelt.
See more on the event page.
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