'We need it even more now than ever': Brandon's Take Back the Night unites community

A crowd gathered in Brandon's downtown core Thursday evening to shine a spotlight on gender and sexual violence during the annual Take Back the Night march.

The event has been going for nearly 20 years and its message is as essential as ever in 2023, said Sandy Smith, who helped organize the march.

"This event is about … being loud and shaking things up. So often misogyny and hate and sexual and gendered violence happens in the dark," she said.

"This is like shining a light on that and saying this is happening in your community and that's not OK."

Smith, the advocacy and community engagement coordinator at the Women's Resource Centre in Brandon, sees the impacts of gender-based violence every day, walked with a group of around 60 people from Princess Park to Brandon University.

According to the Take Back the Night website, one in three women worldwide experience some form of sexual violence or intimate partner violence, one in six men experience sexual violence, two in three transgender people have been sexually assaulted, and LGBTQ community members are more likely to experience sexual violence.

Manitoba is one of the most unsafe places for women in Canada, according to Statistics Canada, with rates of police-reported family violence at 417 cases per 100,000 people.

"Rates of femicide are so high in domestic violence, especially for rural women, it is just incredible," Smith said. "It's unfortunate we still need this event."

Take Back the Night organizers partnered for the first time with Brandon Pride this year.

That inclusion is critical because queer and trans people face incredible amounts of violence, Smith said. In 2019, police reported 263 such incidents across Canada, a 41 per cent increase over the previous year and the highest total since 2009.

That shows the fight needs to continue to keep vulnerable people, women and the LGBTQ community safe, she said.

"It's always a fight to maintain the rights that we fought for. We're seeing that with our queer and trans folks, too. It's almost like we do two steps forward and three steps back."

Education and community essential

Marshall Morrisseau, the 2SLGBTQ program facilitator with Brandon's Sexuality Education Resource Centre, says Take Back the Night is centred on building community and safety for everyone.

"There are folks within the LGBTQ community that have been at the end of violence and it's important that we share space with them and show support for the whole community," he said.

There are complex situations where folks are in abusive relationships and it's just not as easy as walking out the door, Morrisseau added.

"We just have to support one another and gather like we are and keep … each other safe and checking in on each other," he said. "It's representation. It's coming together. It's that unity that's been kind of lost."

Alicia Zurba walked in Take Back the Night in solidarity with all women. 

"We all deserve, as women ... to feel safe in our communities and no matter what space that we're in," Zurba said.

"I think it's really important to … show up for events like this and remind our community members that we're all here for each other."

Education remains critical in conversations about sexual and gendered violence, Smith said. That includes educating systems like police and the government about those types of violence and how to prevent it.

"We need it even more now than ever before," Smith said. "Our homes aren't safe. Our streets aren't safe for people."