Impact Grande Prairie (Facebook)

By Liam Verster

Take Back the Night march postponed

Take Back the Night march postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19 regulations

Nov 13, 2020 | 1:51 PM

Impact Grande Prairie’s Take Back the Night march, which was intended to go in downtown Grande Prairie Friday evening to raise awareness of domestic and sexual violence as part of Family Violence Prevention Month, has been postponed indefinitely due to the new COVID-19 regulations.

Yesterday, the Provincial Government announced new rules and regulations to stem the rapid climb of COVID-19 cases in Alberta, and following a long meeting with it’s partner organizations and dignitaries, Impact decided the event should not go on as planned.

Related: New public health measures announced for City of Grande Prairie

Joanne Peckham, Network Coordinator for Impact Grande Prairie, says they want to make sure everyone is protected and safe.

“Even though we were going to social distance and stagger the group, we still have dignitaries that were going to come, we still have to do chants when we’re marching, and for safety precautions we just couldn’t see, based on the volume (of attendees) that we were anticipating, that those regulations would work.”

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Peckham says when the two-week restrictions are lifted, and if it’s safe, then they will try to hold the Take Back the Night march again. However, she is looking to alternative options for events in case the march cannot be done.

“Last night’s dialogue (with the partner organizations) presented a lot of alternatives that I’m going to look into today. One being virtual, and there’s something that they’ve done in Fort McMurray that’s a drive-in event. So, I want to do some research and check out what some other communities have done in the province of Alberta to raise awareness for Family Violence Prevention Month.”

Meanwhile, Impact and it’s partners are continuing work to raise awareness of family violence.

Social media pages are being updated with informative and educational pieces regarding family violence, as well as local supports and services. The organizations working with Impact are also benefiting from a portion of ticket sales for the Cars For Christmas Lottery for the rest of Friday, and a social media campaign will be held on November 23.

For that social media campaign, people will be asked to upload a photo of themselves wearing purple and using the hashtags #GoPurpleGP and #FamilyViolencePreventionMonth to help raise awareness. There will also be a draw for those who use #GoPurpleGP for Tim Hortons gift cards during that campaign.

Related: Awareness campaigns go in Grande Prairie to mark Family Violence Prevention month

Impact Grande Prairie is a coalition of support and service providers in the region which include:

• Odyssey House – main office 780-538-1332, 24-Hour Crisis Line 780-532-2672
• Grande Prairie and District Victim Services – 780-830-5755
• PACE – 780-539-6692
• The Caribou Child and Youth Centre – 780-814-7223
• John Howard Society of Grande Prairie – 780-532-0373
• Grande Prairie RCMP – 780-830-5700
• Family Violence Info Line – 310-1818
• Alberta’s One Line for Sexual Violence – 1-866-403-800