Ottawa Women’s March goes virtual – and local – May 1 to 8

Alayne McGregor

The Ottawa Women’s March moved the 2021 march up by two months to try to beat the pandemic. But it wasn’t enough. The group’s event, May 1 to 8, will be online, highlighting a diverse range of issues affecting women in this city.

Participants are still urged to parade outside on May 8, bringing a feminist message and the spirit of the march to their own neighbourhoods with people in their own social bubbles, rather than in a large crowd on Parliament Hill.

“Bring signs if you want to. Bring noisemakers if you want to,” said Emily Sams, the group’s interim co-chair. “Even if it’s just going on a walk reflecting what are your feminist values, what does gender equality mean to you, and how can you make society a safer, more inclusive place for women and gender-diverse people?”

Sams was in the crowd at the first Ottawa Women’s March in January 2017, held in solidarity with the women’s march in Washington, DC, against the inauguration of then-President Donald Trump. That Ottawa march, and its successor a year later, were reported to have attracted six to seven thousand people to the Hill and along Elgin Street. Sams was also involved in organizing the 2020 event, held downtown March 7 just before the pandemic struck.

Even now, after Trump’s defeat, Sams said, there are many other important feminist issues to march about. “Feminist spaces are always important. Regardless of who is being elected, we always need to work for more equitable societies and societies that will support women and all people.”

For example, she noted that the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability recently reported that 160 women and girls were killed in 2020 in Canada.

The current pandemic has also had an ongoing gender impact, she said. It put more women than men out of work, it has forced many women to take on extra unpaid child care because of school closures, and many women are working in essential jobs.

“I think it’s still really important for women and folks of all genders to continue to march for gender equality and to continue the march for social justice and activism. There’s so many reasons we need to continue marching.”

Panels covering diverse women’s issues

Although earlier marches had been coordinated across Canada, Sams said that Women’s March Ottawa now works independently and is focused on the Ottawa community. She said the group strives to create partnerships with other women’s groups, which is reflected in the diversity of its 2021 event. Panels will discuss black feminist organizing in Ottawa (May 1), trans-inclusive feminism (May 4), sex worker advocacy and sex-worker-inclusive feminism (May 5), and indigenous women and Two-Spirit people (May 6).

“We’re really excited to get other feminist and social justice groups working with us. We’re trying to be intersectional with our panels. We’re trying to cover a lot of topics, but we also recognize we aren’t able to cover every single feminist issue, and so we’re hoping this year to create broad opportunities for advocacy and for learning.”

The topics also reflect current advocacy supporting BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of colour) communities, “to make sure when we talk about feminism we’re also talking about racism and we’re talking about racial justice.”

For the sex worker panel, she said, they’ve invited Maggie’s, a sex work advocacy organization from Toronto which combats whore-phobia and argues that sex work is real, legitimate and valuable work.

Other issues are also being covered. On Sunday, May 2, the virtual brunch event will discuss food security as a feminist issue, with representatives from the Parkdale Food Centre and other groups. The May 7 panel will discuss the impact of climate change through a feminist lens, including the added impacts of barriers caused by poverty and gender. The week will close on May 8 with keynote speaker Gina Wilson, the Deputy Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Youth and Senior Associate Deputy Minister for Canadian Heritage.

And less serious topics…

However, the week also includes less serious and more supportive gatherings. May 3 has a Maker Monday workshop on art, self-love and community care, led by Ottawa artist K.J. Forman (www.luckylittlequeer.com/). On May 4, the group hosts a feminist trivia night. And, on May 7, you can dance in your bubble in a virtual dance party with Ottawa DJ Roxysunset (soundcloud.com/roxanne-akhtar).

While the group is all-volunteer, it is asking for donations to help pay for expenses for the week: promotion, Zoom costs, and honoraria for speakers and workshop leaders. Any leftover amount will go to microgrants to support the work of feminist organizers in Ottawa, Sams said.

All events are free and open to all. They will take place over Zoom, mostly in the evening, and last 60 to 90 minutes. Sams said they planned to record the sessions and publish them on YouTube so those with conflicting work or childcare responsibilities could still watch them.

Learn more about the week’s events at www.womensmarchottawa.ca/2021-program.html