By Ian Holmes

VIDEO: Women’s march in Nanaimo draws massive turnout

Jan 21, 2017 | 1:54 PM

NANAIMO — People of all ages, sexes and backgrounds took to the streets of downtown Nanaimo for a massive Women’s March on Washington rally.

A traffic control volunteer estimated nearly 1,000 people attended the march, which started at Diana Krall Plaza at 10 a.m. Saturday. The army of marchers made their way along Terminal Avenue to the pavilion at Maffeo Sutton Park by 11.a.m., where about a dozen people took to the loudspeaker.

Nanaimo-Ladysmith New Democrat MP and status of women critic Sheila Malcolmson was among those who spoke.

“Today against sexism, violence, xenophobia; today we unite!” said Malcolmson to the cheering crowd. “It is more important than ever to stand together like we are this morning.”

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Malcolmson said it has been a toxic past year in America with damaging political rhetoric bleeding into Canada. She noted that the tone from Donald Trump’s campaign insulted and threatened many people, including women, immigrants and those with disabilities.

“This is not a day to question the legitimacy of the American election or our democratic process,” she said. “But it is a day to come together to proclaim that hate does not win.”

Nanaimo Women’s Centre executive director Lesley Clarke said her work shows her everyday how systemic violence affects local women. She voiced grave concern about the impact Trump will have.

“These events, this shift, this unveiling, what does it mean to our future?” Clarke said. “I have come to realize we have an opportunity to decide what it means. So let us talk about it, let us drag this into the light, let us be unbearably honest, let us be brave, let us lead in the absence of leadership.”

Many people brought their own creative signs — some promoting rights for women, others blasting Trump.

There were more than 600 world-wide Women March on Washington events happening on Saturday, according the group’s website. About 30 marches were staged in Canada, including one on Gabriola Island. The march, which coiniced with Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president on Friday, had a large presence on social media.

Organizer Sonnet L’Abbe, a professor at Vancouver Island University, said she was blown away by how many people were at the Nanaimo event and how engaged they were. She was pleased to see a wide cross-section of the community show up.

“Supporting diversity does cut across all of those demographics,” L’Abbe said. “It’s people of different ethnicities, people of different abilities, men, women, non-binary people, queer people, trans-people; we saw so many different kinds of people here today.”

L’Abbe hopes the Women’s March on Washington movement helps spur on further conversations and action.

“I think that it’s just the beginning to activating people to continue holding their governments accountable.”