International Women’s Day

Handmaids fill the streets for International Women’s Day

Handmaids fill the streets for International Women’s Day

Cassandra Kerwin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

cassandra@qctonline.com

On March 8, hundreds of women in red capes and white bonnets marched through Quebec City for International Women’s Day, at Laurier Québec in Sainte-Foy, in front of the U.S. Consulate in Old Quebec and in a march that ended at the Palais de Justice de Québec on Boul. Jean-Lesage. Similar protests took place at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa and in 14 cities and towns across Quebec, including Montreal, Sherbrooke and Frelighsburg, on the U.S.-Canada border.

The capes and bonnets are taken from Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale, set in a dystopian world in the near future, where women are stripped of their rights to read, write and control their reproductive choices. Handmaids – lower-class women whose red dresses and capes and white bonnets make them stand out – are forced to give birth to the babies of higher-class families, who wear green. The book was adapted into a popular TV series in 2017.

Inspired by the story, the Regroupement des groupes de femmes de la région de la Cap- itale-Nationale dressed in red capes and white bonnets for their protests on International Women’s Day. One red-clad group of protesters surprised shoppers at Laurier Québec around noon by walking in tight unison into the atrium with signs bearing misogynistic quotes from public figures.

Less than an hour later, the women attracted a rather large crowd when they assembled at the corner of Avenue Sainte- Geneviève and Place Terrasse-Dufferin in front of the U.S. consulate, protesting the rise of anti-feminist sentiment in the United States under President Donald Trump.

At 2 p.m., these women joined the crowd at the Centre résidentiel et communautaire Jacques-Cartier in Lower Town.

The year 2025 is the 30th anniversary of the of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a sweeping inter- national plan to achieve a better world for women and girls. To mark this milestone, feminist groups around the world, including in Quebec City, marched under the theme of “Still Fighting.” The local groups chanted in French, “Still fighting to end violence against women! Still fighting against the poverty experi- enced by women! Still fighting for feminist climate justice!”

“With everything that’s going on right now, it’s really a good

time to come together and feel less alone,” said activist Maria Tremblay. “It is not a question of gaining something over men, but equal to men. Some toxic masculine-misogynistic groups are growing in popular- ity, mainly in the States, and passing laws there that are removing the rights of women. We hear not only men but also women speak about how women must become wives, mothers and even servants to men. That boggles our minds. It is exactly what Margaret Atwood wrote about 40 years ago.”

The march ended in front of the Palais de Justice in Saint- Roch, where the handmaids in red raised their white bonnets and chanted along with the crowd, “Mother, daughter, sister, never again in fear.”

With files from Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Montreal marches for Palestinian and Indigenous women

Local Journalism Initiative / The Link / March 10, 2024 / Indigenous, International Women's Day, Palestine

Activists Marlene Hale (left) and Dolores Chew (right) stand before the crowd as another activist reads off their speech. Photo Julia Cieri

Hannah Scott-Talib
Local Journalism Initiative

Hundreds of Montreal residents gathered in Dorchester Square on March 8 to celebrate International Women’s Day and protest in solidarity with oppressed women worldwide.

The march, entitled “Women resist! War, colonialism, capitalism,” was initiated by the Women of Diverse Origins (WDO) group. It began with a pre-march gathering at the square at 5:30 p.m., where organizers later led the crowd into the road heading east along De Maisonneuve and Saint-Catherine street at around 6 p.m.

“We take [to] the street to keep the militant spirit of women’s struggle day alive. This is much needed in these dark and exhausting times that we are living through,” said one of the night’s speakers, WDO member Dolores Chew.

Chew addressed the crowd before the march began, speaking on the oppression of women worldwide in relation to capitalism and colonialism, but particularly in relation to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“Of the over 30,000 people who have been killed in Gaza and the 10,000 who are missing under rubble, two thirds are women and children. Many children who survive have been orphaned, and many survive with amputations. Meanwhile, famine looms,” said Chew in her speech. “The Palestinian resistance has galvanized peoples around the world in a global community of resistance.”

Her addressal of Palestine was later continued in a speech given by a representative of Montreal’s chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Sarah Shamy.

“On this International Women’s Day, we uplift our women martyrs, the wives and mothers of martyrs, and the comrades sisters imprisoned in Zionist jails who remain steadfast in the face of oppression,” Shamy said.

Another speaker, activist Marlene Hale of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, addressed the issue of women’s rights and Indigeneity, drawing from her family history as well as her role as an activist and filmmaker to delve into the importance of women’s rights.

“I’ve been mentored by my grandmother, by my great aunties, who have shown me their ways into being a woman and being an Indigenous person,” said Hale. “Today, they say to us: ‘Make sure you are using your voice, make sure you are heard, make sure that wherever you are standing in this world, you are never to be alone’.”

Throughout the march, protesters held up signs relating to various specific women’s rights issues worldwide, chanting lines such as, “To exist is to resist” and “The women united will never be defeated”.

“I am here to raise my voice because in my country back home, we can’t, as women, go out and feel safe in the streets,” said one protester, Johanna Moreno from Mexico.

As hundreds rallied on this year’s International Women’s Day, Chew said that the event was both a protest and a celebration of women’s rights.

“We shout in anger at the state of the world where human life has become so cheapened by greed, but we also celebrate the centuries of struggles of women, who have snatched and won many gains,” said Chew. “When women stop, the world stops.”

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