With placards reading “women’s rights equal to human rights,” “feminism is another word for equality” and “Princess Leia sent me,” thousands rallied at the Alberta legislature on Saturday for the Women’s March on Washington in Edmonton.
The enthusiasm was undeniable at the Edmonton event, one of hundreds around the world organized after Donald Trump won the U.S. election last November.
“People are just standing up and saying enough is enough,” Edmonton-Strathcona MP Linda Duncan told CBC News at the rally Saturday.
Participants held placards with serious and sentimental slogans at the march in Edmonton. (Phil LaPlante/CBC)
“We’re not going to put up with the kind of misogyny we’re hearing down south of the border.”
During the U.S. election campaign last fall, tape conversations turned up in which Trump used vulgar language to describe his approach to women. He bragged about being able to use his fame to grope women without their consent.
But Duncan said Edmontonians aren’t just marching because of Trump’s words. “They’re fed up with the misogyny they are hearing here even in Edmonton,” she said.
Female politicians in Alberta have been attacked on social media in the past, including Premier Rachel Notley and Calgary-Northwest MLA Sandra Jansen.
Men, women and children joined the rally in Edmonton. Security at the legislature estimated 3,500 to 4,000 people were there.
Edmonton-Strathcona MP Linda Duncan believes people are ‘re-energized’ by the Women’s March rally. (Phil LaPlante/CBC)
“These kind of gatherings re-energize people,” Duncan said. “We just have to give them the tools to speak out.”
She believes the rally shows solidarity to work on such issues as equal pay, violence against women, affordable childcare and women living in poverty.
More than a million people are estimated to have joined over 600 Women’s Marches around the world.