Dieulita Datus (left) and Sadia Khan (right), co-founders of Ubuntu-Mobilizing Central Alberta, led the Red Deer Women's March for a fourth year (third in-person) through downtown Red Deer on March 12, 2022. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

silence for victims of pandemic

Women’s March winds through downtown Red Deer

Mar 12, 2022 | 2:03 PM

The fourth annual (third in-person) Red Deer Women’s March took to the downtown Saturday morning.

The march followed a panel discussion at the Snell Auditorium where participants spoke about the local 2SLGBTQ+ community, the United Way’s ‘Period Promise,’ midwifery work, and post-secondary gender studies.

The event, put on by Ubuntu-Mobilizing Central Alberta, was attended by about 40 people, who marched silently in honour of those who died from or have been impacted by COVID-19 and therefore couldn’t attend.

“This march brings awareness and a voice to lots of issues women still face today, which I feel like a lot of people remain ignorant of. It’s great to have kids here, so they can see what’s going on and gain an understanding. As Corky, who did the smudge and blessing, said, maybe this stuff we’re talking about is stuff our kids won’t have to deal with,” says Pamela Taylor, an an Indigenous (Dene) teacher, who attended the event.

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“Unfortunately though, I’m not confident. As a teacher, we still see it every day where girls face barriers. If she can be one more person as she’s growing up who has an understanding and can be a voice to stand up for her friends, I’ll feel like I’ve done a solid job. The same goes for my son who asked lots of questions before coming today, such as what cisgender and transgender mean, because he hadn’t heard those words before. This is clearly a great opportunity to help educate them and let them use their open minds.”

Pamela Taylor (centre) with daughter Rachel, 9, and son Sullivan, 7, at the Red Deer Women’s March on March 12, 2022. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

Chelsea O’Donoghue, Donor Relations Manager for United Way Central Alberta, said her message to government officials is, “Hurry up.”

United Way Central Alberta has run its Period Promise initiative for a couple years now, striving to get commitments from government to supply public washrooms, school washrooms and in other places with free menstrual products. That includes in boys washrooms for a number of reasons: to break existing stigma, so they can obtain product for a family member in need, or if a transgender/non-binary person may be using that washroom.

“We’ve seen movement with governments talking about barrier-free access to these items. In B.C., they have mandated them in all school washrooms and public washrooms. Our push is to see that in Alberta. We have a committment from government, announced last May, that we’re told will start next year. That will involve 100 schools, whereas we have four in central Alberta already participating and we’re hoping to expand to 10 soon,” said O’Donoghue.

“Going back to a question we had about being conscious of the language we use, and we can go back to the Period Promise, a phrase like feminine hygiene. Many people think of or hear those words, and say ‘feminine’ is non-inclusive, and ‘hygiene’ means unsanitary, so they’re turned off of supporting it. We just want equity.”

The Women’s March was held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, which took place on March 8.