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Vancouverites to participate in Women’s March on Washington

March planned for day after president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration
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Helesia Luke, Michelle Fortin and Thea Sample are heading to Washington, D.C. this week to participate in the Women’s March on Washington. Marches are also planned in Vancouver and Seattle. Photo Dan Toulgoet

Three Vancouver women feel so strongly in their opposition to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and his series of offensive comments directed at women that they’re going to Washington, D.C. this week to tell him about it.

Helesia Luke, her 21-year-old daughter Thea Sample, and Michelle Fortin will join thousands of women from the United States and around the world in the Women’s March on Washington set for Jan. 21, the day after Trump is inaugurated as the country's 45th president.

“What he said about women in 2016 is pretty unbelievable,” said Luke, referring to Trump’s lewd and sexist remarks during and prior to his campaign. “The other piece that is so shocking is that I don’t think there’s been an election in history where people have known more about the character of the candidate, yet they still elected him.”

Luke, a longtime activist who works as a coordinator for Green Jobs B.C., and her daughter agreed to travel to Washington after Fortin, the executive director of Downtown Eastside non-profit Watari Counselling and Support Services Society, challenged friends to participate in the march.

Luke said she’s not a spontaneous person but bought her plane tickets one week after Trump’s victory in November’s presidential election.

“It was a pretty discouraging outcome to the election and I really wanted to lend support to not just our American friends, but also to specific groups of people who are very fearful at this point — more fearful than myself,” she said referring to non-white U.S. citizens who were maligned by Trump in his campaign.

The idea for the march began with a Facebook page created by U.S. organizers in the hours after Trump beat Democrat leader Hillary Clinton to win the White House.

That idea quickly became a movement and has inspired organizers in other cities, including Vancouver and Seattle, to host marches. Those marches were organized after the Vancouver trio bought their tickets to Washington but none regrets the decision.

No borders

For the record, the three women are Canadians with no direct connections to the United States. So why go? It’s a question Sample has been asked, and her response is women’s rights have no borders and should be supported regardless of where a person lives.  

“I want to go to represent Canada and stand in solidarity with the men and women marching there,” said Sample, who is studying history at Langara College, where she might publish an article on her experiences from the trip.

As a young person, she said, the conversation about Trump and the forces behind his victory has people her age feeling badly for the millions of Americans who voted for Clinton, who would have been America’s first female president.

“All these horrible hateful things he’s saying are truly horrible and awful,” Sample said, but acknowledged Canadians should not feel smug about the country’s cohesion, noting problems related to race, sexism and conservative voices espousing similar views to Trump exist in Canada.

For Fortin, who rearranged a planned trip to Florida to march in Washington, the need to be among other like-minded people and show solidarity is central to her belief system. Fortin is a member of the Pride board, has participated in Black Lives Matter vigils, helped organize the vigil in Vancouver to remember the 49 people slain in an Orlando nightclub and has marched to support First Nations.

“I really feel like this is a place and time that I get to put my money where my mouth is and put my feet on the ground, and that for me is inspiring,” Fortin said. “I think I’m going to get an amazing hit of energy and optimism an opportunity out of this.”

Trump's inauguration

During her interview with the Courier, Fortin purposely avoided using Trump’s name in conversation, referring to him as the president-elect or by the hashtag she uses on Twitter, #45isnotworthy.

“I won’t say his name ever again,” she said, noting her father and friends know not to mention Trump’s name in her presence. “It’s to kind of take away some of his power because I think that language — words — have a lot of power, and his name has garnered too much attention for me.”

That decision explains why she, Luke and Sample will not attend Trump’s inauguration, even though they’ll be in Washington and understand the event will make for a big piece of U.S. history, regardless of a person’s politics.

Luke: “I think we’ll go do something educational.”

Sample: “When I’m there I might change my mind and be spontaneous to be there to witness history. But at the moment, I just find it so incredibly insulting that he’s going to be inaugurated. I think it would be hard standing there, witnessing it.”

For those who want to participate but can't travel to Washington, Vancouver's sister march is Saturday, January 21 at Jack Poole Plaza from 10 a.m. to noon.

mhowell@vancourier.com

@Howellings