Yellowknifers gathering for this week’s Take Back the Night march see reasons for grave concern – and some reasons to feel good about how residents are responding.
Take Back the Night is an annual gathering focused on ending sexual violence. This year’s event took place in the city’s downtown on Thursday evening.
“I would like for people to think about missing and murdered Indigenous women. It’s just a prevalent problem that requires more attention,” said Gaëlle Groux, one of the residents who joined the march.
Others who marched held signs with messages like “believe the victim” and “teach respect, not victim blaming.”
Molly Gillard’s sign referred to a specific piece of NWT legislation, Bill 27, which would amend protections against family violence.
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Advocates say the bill will alter legislation that currently allows for emergency protection orders in an unreasonably narrow range of circumstances. (Others say the bill could cause fresh problems.)
“The reason I’m here is to support my community, but also to get the Legislative Assembly to pass Bill 27, which expands family violence laws so applicants can apply for emergency protection orders who aren’t just married or have been married to their abuser, and can also be people who haven’t had a child or aren’t carrying a child,” said Gillard, outlining some of the obstacles people seeking an EPO can face.
“Sexual violence is kind-of a taboo,” Gillard added. “The more people talk about it, the more we recognize it’s an issue and can actually put pressure on laws and people in power to actually move forward.”
Nancy MacNeill was the MC for the march.
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“Yellowknife is a unique community in that a lot of the problems that other cities get to hide, we don’t. We all see it. We’re painfully aware sometimes of the bad things that are happening behind closed doors,” MacNeill told Cabin Radio.
“I think it’s really important for folks to have a chance to talk about that outside of closed doors, and to remind people that it might be the most shameful thing in your memory, and you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
MacNeill said Yellowknife has “a lot of organizations doing incredibly good work” for people facing gender-based and sexual violence.
“I’m not going to pretend it’s a perfect situation. If we didn’t need these organizations, they wouldn’t be there. But we are so fortunate to have as many dedicated, wonderful people on the ground working to help people and working to make our communities safer,” MacNeill said.
“We’re really lucky for that. Not every city the size of Yellowknife has as many people who are trying so hard to help.”
Asked if things are improving in a general sense for people in the vulnerable circumstances that Take Back the Night is about, Groux wasn’t sure how to answer.
“Honestly, I have no idea. I feel like I don’t know,” Groux said.
“Sometimes, I think we’re making progress. Sometimes, we definitely take steps back.”
