More than 150 people marched through the streets of Montreal on Saturday as part of an annual demonstration for women’s rights marked by the war in Ukraine.
For more than 20 years, the organization Women of Diverse Origins has held a demonstration on the sidelines of International Women’s Rights Day, March 8. The event, which was to take place last Saturday, had been postponed for a week due to poor weather conditions.
In the end, more than 150 people gathered around 2 p.m. in a large public square located just next to the Parc metro station, in the Parc-Extension district. Representatives of various organizations as well as a member of the Wet’suwet’en community of British Columbia then marched in front of the demonstrators to express their demands on various issues, including immigration and access to affordable housing.
“People are being pushed out, including immigrant and non-status women. If because of gentrification, they get squeezed out, where will these women go? If they don’t have security within their homes, what are they going to do? “, launched at Homework Ishita Tiwary, one of the organizers of the march. The Parc-Extension district is also one of the areas of Montreal where the housing crisis is having the most devastation, she pointed out.
End the violence
The war in Ukraine, however, prevailed on Saturday, both in speeches and in the crowd of people of all ages. Several demonstrators held up posters indicating their opposition to the Russian invasion in the Eastern European country. “Women say no to imperialist war,” one of them said. “Women against war and exploitation”, hammered another.
At 2:30 p.m., a minute of silence was held in tribute to women victims of war, in Ukraine as elsewhere in the world. “The people most affected by the war are women and children, even if they do not take part in the fighting,” said Ishita Tiwary.
“The greatest violence against women is in wars,” adds Marie Boti, another organizer of the event, who recalls that women and children constitute the vast majority of Ukrainian refugees who have fled to countries neighbors in recent weeks, often in difficult conditions.
Shortly before 3 p.m., the demonstrators began a short march through the streets of the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough before returning to their starting point. The sound of a drum sounded as festive music emanated from loudspeakers carried by a vehicle that drove past the small crowd.
“To see women and children being separated [en raison de la guerre en Ukraine], it hurts my heart. We must stop the war as soon as possible, “said Amy Tang, a protester met during the march. At 17and day of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, however, the fighting did not seem to be slowing down on Saturday.