Downtown Montreal was full of chants and banners on Sunday as many gathered to mark Worldwide Girls’s Day.
The march started at Norman-Bethune Sq. close to the Man-Concordia metro station and wound by town’s streets.
The demonstration, organized by Girls of Various Origins (WDO), a collective of anti-imperialist ladies working throughout a number of sectors, highlighted points affecting ladies domestically and globally, together with immigration, political repression, Indigenous rights, and financial inequality.
Combating for rights at residence and overseas
Dolores Chew, a founding member of WDO, mentioned that whereas some beneficial properties have been made over time, ladies nonetheless face challenges round pay fairness, violence, and reproductive rights.
“The occasions we’re dwelling in at the moment are identical to this onslaught from each path,” she mentioned, noting the warfare in Iran and different international crises. “We will’t relaxation.”
Chew additionally criticized native insurance policies which she mentioned undermine ladies’s rights. She highlighted current restrictions on Muslim ladies sporting hijabs within the public sector and cuts to training and healthcare, which disproportionately have an effect on ladies.
“As a Quebecer, I’m actually appalled on the assault on ladies and women right here. Should you put on a hijab now you may’t work within the public sector in any respect. So principally the federal government is saying — Minister Drainville mentioned we’re giving them choices, they’ve a selection, they will take it off — and it’s appalling,” she mentioned.
She additionally famous the broader affect of austerity and assaults on unions, emphasizing that these measures straight have an effect on ladies in closely female-dominated sectors. “The assault on unions is occurring as a result of unions are actually sturdy and so they defend rights for employees and girls to get first rate wages, first rate working situations,” Chew mentioned.
Intersectionality and group organizing
Norah Finlay, a member of WDO, mentioned the occasion is a collaborative effort and confused the significance of intersectionality. “Girls’s Day isn’t nearly ladies; it’s intersectionality, and that’s key when we’ve got any discussions about this,” she mentioned.
“I’m simply hoping that we’ve got this time to be on the streets, make our level clear, discuss how indignant we’re with what’s happening all over the world and in addition at residence with the austerity measures that we see being taken. I simply needed to be a spot for us to precise our rage and in addition have fun collectively and are available collectively,” she added.
An obligation to take to the streets
Attendees mentioned taking part within the march is each a duty and a method to honor previous struggles.
One lady, who had been unable to attend earlier occasions because of household obligations, mentioned, “I feel it’s an obligation for each lady, each feminist to return as a result of we do have rights to nonetheless struggle for. To at the present time, a lot of ladies got here earlier than us and it’s nonetheless a battle. In lots of nations, even right here, we see a recule in our rights. Let’s say abortion — it’s nonetheless a really large struggle all by Canada.”
One other attendee emphasised the urgency of remaining engaged domestically and globally. “I feel it’s important to query the affect of girls’s function in society. Then I might say that with every thing that’s taking place in america, with the regression of girls’s rights, with the regression of minority rights, all minorities, I feel this can be very worrying,” she mentioned.
The march additionally drew consideration to international struggles. “I feel that now greater than ever, we have to take to the streets to remind people who this isn’t the sort of society we would like. I imply, the place of girls in Afghanistan, in Iran, and even in america,” mentioned one other participant.
International solidarity in 2026
WDO’s Fb put up highlighted the a hundred and fifteenth anniversary of Worldwide Girls’s Day and emphasised solidarity with ladies worldwide, together with these in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Center East, Africa, South Asia, and Indigenous communities.
The group denounced colonialism and international oppression whereas reaffirming the central function of girls in workplaces, communities, and social actions.
Celebrating achievements whereas calling for continued motion
Regardless of the intense themes, organizers mentioned the day can be about celebration and hope. “It’s a sober time, nevertheless it’s additionally time to have fun all of the beneficial properties that girls’s struggles have achieved and to not hand over hope,” Chew mentioned. “To cite Brecht, a well-known poet, ‘at the hours of darkness occasions they will even be singing in regards to the darkish occasions.’ In order that’s what we’re right here to do at the moment.”
The occasion culminated with a march by downtown Montreal, bringing collectively contributors in a visual present of solidarity and dedication, and reinforcing that girls’s rights stay an ongoing battle each at residence and overseas.