Take Back the Night takes to the streets Tuesday evening

After a three year absence, the annual Take Back the Night March is back.

“I am so excited to bring it back to the community after being forced to forgo the march in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID. Phoenix along with our community partners have come together to make sure that the 2022 March will happen,” wrote Kaitlynn Swinn, Phoenix Rising Women’s Centre & Non-Profit Homes Centre coordinator in an email to SooToday on Monday.

The Take Back the Night March is an international annual event in which concerned citizens walk to protest the violence that affects women, children and men worldwide.

Locally, this year’s Take Back the Night March begins at Phoenix Rising Women’s Centre at 596 Wellington Street East at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 18.

The March will proceed from Wellington Street East towards Queen Street and the Sault Fire Services station at the corner of Tancred Street and Bay Street.

A ceremony will take place there beginning at 7 p.m. and will include drumming, a candlelight ceremony, a guest speaker and light refreshments.

Participants have been taking part in local Take Back the Night Marches since the mid-1980s.

The March encourages all people, including survivors of violence, to gather and celebrate their strength and courage and commit their energy to working towards change and stop the violence against women, men and children.

The Take Back the Night Foundation states that one in three women worldwide experience some form of sexual violence or intimate partner violence, one in six men experience sexual violence and that two in three transgender people have been sexually assaulted. 

The Foundation states that people in the LGBTQIA+ community are more likely to experience sexual violence.

The Foundation states that less than 50 per cent of victims report these crimes. 

“The issue of safety in our communities has never been more relevant,” Swinn wrote.

“Each year the Take Back the Night event continues to increase in the number of participants as Sault Ste. Marie envisions a future where all persons can live without threat of violence. The march symbolizes more than the goal of safe streets, but an end to violence period.”