Northerners march in solidarity with Women's March on Washington

Hundreds of people joined marches Saturday in Yellowknife and Whitehorse, organized to show support for equality and human rights in the wake of Donald Trump's inauguration as U.S. president.

The demonstrations were organized to coincide with the Women's March on Washington, and other similar events being held across Canada and around the world.

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In Yellowknife, dozens came to show their support for a variety of social justice issues: reproductive rights, rights for people with disabilities, Indigenous issues and violence against women.

"I'm standing for what's right," said Meghan Housley, who wore a "Nasty Woman" button — one of the march's slogans taken from a comment Trump directed at Hillary Clinton during the U.S presidential campaign. 

"It's important to be here in solidarity with women around the world and in Washington, these issues aren't just happening in the United States," she said. 

"I think it's a really important moment to take a step back and acknowledge that the world we want isn't here yet, and we still have a lot of work left to do," said Nancy MacNeill, who's helping organize the Yellowknife march.

"It's not about [Trump]. It's really about this acknowledgement that there are a lot of oppressed and marginalized people across the world who aren't well represented by their political system."

In other words, she says, the Yellowknife march is not just for, or about, women.

"I've always considered myself an 'intersectional feminist', which means that basically, it's not about women. It's about everybody. It's about human beings, and egalitarianism, and equality for everybody."

'We need to mobilize'

Sarah Murphy, who's helping organize the Whitehorse march, agrees that even though the demonstrations have been inspired by Trump and his rhetoric, "this is so much bigger than just one individual.

"The moment that Trump was elected, we've seen hate crimes rise across our country, we've seen people with ideas that other people are somehow less than them suddenly voicing them comfortably — and that's pretty alarming."

She says it's wrong to think that Canada is somehow immune to hateful or divisive rhetoric.

"We need to talk about it, and we need to mobilize and stand together," she said.