Community members took part in the first Take Back the Night walk in September 2018. (Tracy Petreman/Elisha Griffiths)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

take back the night

Downtown event aims to change rape culture

Sep 7, 2019 | 8:00 AM

Community members will come together in downtown Red Deer this month in an effort to once again ‘Take Back the Night.’

The event is going into its second year after its inception in 2018 by a group of Red Deer College social work diploma students who were looking to shine a light on the different aspects of sexual assault.

This year’s theme, according to organizer Jade Fleury, is changing the culture around how society treats survivors.

“For a lot of people who are sexually assaulted, there is still so much stigma, and then if they go through the court system, the perpetrators end up with really light or lenient sentences. Even for missing and murdered Indigenous women, street workers and sex workers, there still seems to be this shame surrounding it, and the truth is sexual assault doesn’t discriminate,” Fleury says. “It’s a predator, generally, who’s doing these things, but that stigma is really embedded into our society of putting blame on the victim and not on the perpetrator.”

A survivor of sexual assault herself, Fleury believes events like Take Back the Night must keep happening at the grassroots level in order to turn the dial.

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“We want to focus on removing that stigma and creating a community where people can come together and stand united. If we can do that, maybe we can change those perceptions in society,” she adds.

“Hopefully one day we will see sentences being taken seriously and survivors being taken seriously. Our whole idea is to stop shaming and really change rape culture.”

Fleury notes folks like Jessica Dynan, Tyra Pelletier, Elaine Spencer and those at the Central Alberta Sexual Assault Support Centre deserve a lot of credit in keeping the walk alive.

Take Back the Night is happening September 20 at 6:30 p.m. starting at the Red Deer Provincial Courthouse. It will end at Wild Horse Market Studio where there will be a sharing circle, speeches, refreshments and other post-walk festivities.

Prior to the event, on September 13, a poster making session is taking place at the Central Alberta Sexual Assault Support Centre starting at 7:30 p.m.