January 21, 2017. A crowd builds at Jack Poole Plaza.
Last year, I attended the Women’s March in Vancouver, BC. Just the evening before, my body was flustered with contradiction when I made the decision to attend. The period of time leading up to Inauguration Day left me worse for wear. With the abundance of opinion, displays of hyperbolic emotion and the pressure to be vocal, I was left feeling out of touch with what to think. And rightly so. I adhere to a certain set of political views. But they are in tension with my newfound goal to listen. To listen to the people sharing stories different than my own. Most poignant for me were women of various ideologies contributing to the conversation of feminism. What makes a feminist? Can people from a conservative standpoint be feminists? And what struck me the hardest: is it feminist to exclude right-wing women from the conversation?
I saw TV panelists asking these very questions. I considered the way this made me feel: heated, confused and slightly embarrassed. It made me question my own viewpoints and approach to what I thought was a fight for equality for all women and oppressed people. I wanted to do something to change my outlook for the time being. This brought about the decision to leave my comfort zone and attend The March. However, I wanted to do it in an objective way, with the goal to be as neutral as I could be. I felt a sense of responsibility to attend considering what the event stood for, sure. But I wanted to do something I’ve never done (aside from attend a protest), which is to explore something of this magnitude through the perspective of my camera. I don’t believe for one second that the images I captured are completely unbiased. My camera went where my eyes were. My eyes were where I decided to plant my body in a moving crowd of thousands. Nonetheless, for the first time, I explored photojournalism.
Exhilarating and humbling, The March re-confirmed my belief that a nation’s politics don’t just stop at the country’s borders; politics are inherently a very global force. No matter what some people may say about the need for Canadians in this particular demonstration, the reality is that all of the people pictured in these images were there. They showed up.
What people are fighting for is much more than the controversies of one man, and are most certainly bigger than how a single country continues to hinder the progression of people’s rights, no matter how progressive it believes itself to be.
As a Canadian, I see my own life and surroundings affected by similar issues. I am an immigrant — a woman of colour living in a country that has never seen a female at its highest point of leadership. Or anyone who identifies outside of the white, heterosexual male norm, for that matter. Again, borders here mean relatively nothing. They are as invisible as an unbuilt wall, no joke intended. Our current issues and demands for equality take on a life bigger than mere lines on a map. Keep in mind, too, that bringing borders into this conversation dismisses the experiences of refugees, people without citizenship status, and those just visiting a place. I saw several Americans at The March, some who were coincidentally visiting Vancouver. Another example of borders crossed. This was eye-opening: vacation meets politics. Leaving one’s country and political climate, only to be entered into a global demonstration of and for the same purpose. Thousands of people there — many more absent for valid reasons of their own (politics are messy) — saying, “We are here for you.”
This was a global effort of people of many backgrounds coming together. It was about accountability. The responsibility to just do something. And a reminder to recognize the intricacy of another’s struggles as your own. Especially because — as I’m sure most people in attendance were there to demonstrate — Canada’s democracy continues to carry its own faults, despite its “First World” status.
One year later, I am revisiting the moments and the people that I captured on that January morning. There has been plenty of time to reflect on what I saw and come to some sort of conclusion about my opinions for that day. But truth be told, I don’t have any conclusions. Just a complex web of continuously forming thoughts to consider and reconsider. It was therapeutic, almost, to wander through an electric space without the intention to say anything. Just to be there to observe, and making sure to see. Much of the crowd leaned towards one political viewpoint, but a few in attendance brought another conversation to the table. I believe it is important to witness the presence of all of these voices; an uncomplicated and straightforward way to take in the reality as it speaks before you.
Kevin
I read your article on your site; very well said and I agree, for the most part, in what you are saying:) Although this march is universal, I do think that borders do matter in how every country deals with discrimination against women. First let me say, that EVERY country (through varying degrees) needs to do better in making sure female equality is present in their society. It’s a sad statement – it should be the default norm worldwide that women should be viewed and treated like anyone else – and it’s sadder that we as people need ‘education’ or ‘reminders’ that woman have been oppressed in many ways. But I feel that what nations do from here on out DOES matter. If we use the examples of Canada and the US, we have one leader who, for example, appointed Canada’s 1st gender-balanced cabinet and the leader of another who brags about sexual harassment as being “locker room talk”. Now, that’s not to say Canada doesn’t need to do A LOT more (including Trudeau). They do. Our Prime Minister, and our citizens, need to. But to say all problems are equivalent because the category is the same not only short changes positive effort (even if you consider it not enough) but excuses the lack of effort in another nation. And that’s not to say it’s only about Trump. What should concern people is that the US voted someone like that in office. It could have been anyone. They compromised women’s equality, core values, and integrity over someone who can financially help their country. So both countries have similar problems when it comes to women’s rights, but not only are going about it differently but also don’t have that same standard in what they want as a leader. So yes, the women’s marches in Canada is of course needed and everyone needs to listen to everyone’s concerns and stories, and we as Canadians are not all “high and mighty” in having a righteous attitude that we’re better than anyone. We’re not. But we can be proud that something, as incremental as it may be, is being done (and some because of these marches). And we can look at our society as being a better leader in that front compared to our US neighbours. It DOES matter what leaders say. It DOES matter that the US President has given numerous examples of being sexist (among other things), and is a reminder of what started these marches to begin with: because of him and the millions who agree with him. In that aspect, some “good” has come out of his sexism in that now there’s a dialogue. But much more is needed, from both countries and all over the world. And these marches is the right stepping stone in hopefully finally getting the equality that ALL women fully deserve. Sorry for rambling on:) Once again, great article 👍
Navroop
Hi Kevin,
Thank you so much for taking the time to read the article — and not only that, also taking the time to contribute to the conversation in such great depth! You bring up some great points about the need to point out the differences in leadership and governing styles currently in the US and Canada. I agree that it is indeed necessary to acknowledge the presence of borders in this sense, as it could potentially lead to a lack of effort in furthering equality in each respective country if we were to dismiss them completely. Acknowledging borders does play a huge role in keeping ourselves accountable for what is going on in our own countries, even if the reason to act on our values may stem from the state of politics in another country. In this sense, Canada is currently (incrementally) better. I think what point I was trying to address (I’m not sure if I did a good job at explaining it) is that taking into account the knowledge we have about Trump’s (and a large portion of US citizens’) standpoint on refugees and other types of migration, for example, the rigidity of borders soften a little in my mind. For instance, there have been several stories of people fleeing danger in their countries and entering the US as their only chance at safety, even with the awareness that they will likely be unwelcome. We then hear stories where — because of their safety being in jeopardy in the US — they risk crossing the border into Canada. Here, for me, it just ends up making all of these borders connected (ie., the country they were fleeing, the US, Canada). In doing so, what goes on in Trump’s government becomes linked to ours in a way. And, of course, it is a fact that all nations are separate and therefore must govern separately. But I guess what I was trying to get at was that regardless of each country having independent systems of government, it may help to not take these borders so seriously. Especially when many of Trump’s comments centre around immigration, people of different cultural backgrounds (who also make up a large portion of the country he governs), people in other countries, and people that don’t fall into the category of “American” in his eyes. So for me, with hearing him discuss issues that bring in other countries into his political statements that he is making in his own home land (while representing it at the highest level), I can’t help but see that as a bit of a green light to make it OK for the rest of us outside his borders to jump into the conversation. And because issues like refugeeism, sexual harassment, etc. are of universal concern with or without Trump in power anyway, I feel we have a responsibility to recognize what Trump/America does as a reflection of us as Canadians, too. What makes it worse is that I’ve seen a few Canadian news segments asking Canadian citizens about Trump’s actions and it’s brought to light that some Canadians fall into the same political category as those who elected Trump (or maybe this is good because at least we’re given another example that Canada needs to work on living up to its “perfectly multicultural” image.) Now, I, must apologize for rambling on. But I guess what I’m trying to say is that I completely agree that borders need to be acknowledged. I just hope to see a loosening of the standards we hold them up to so that we can continue to march worldwide, and therefore have a global conversation about rights that should be universal to begin with. Thank you so much, again, for reading and giving your feedback. I really appreciate it! 🙂