Take Back The Night 2022

This year TBTN St. John’s will be held at HARBOURSIDE PARK from 6 pm to 8 pm and will include music, refreshments, community booths and engaging speakers.

TBTN St. John’s acknowledges this event as an opportunity to reclaim the dark spaces that sexual violence has created in our lives and in our communities.

All genders and ages are welcomed and encouraged, but please center on the experience of people most targeted by sexual violence.

We have heard and appreciate all the feedback given to us by the community. We may not be able to implement all of them this year, however, we will be working to incorporate them for TBTN and all of our other future events.

Since the 1960s, Take Back the Night (TBTN) has been an event that invites individuals to unite in an empowering rally that raises awareness of issues relating to gender inequality and sexual violence, held in cities all over the world.

Here in St. John’s, the NLSACPC and community partners have been holding a TBTN event for 38 years. While we have made some progress;

• The rate of sexual assault in Newfoundland and Labrador continues to be higher than the national average.
• In Labrador, sexual violence against Indigenous women and gender-diverse folks is FOUR times the national average.
• The need for the criminal justice system to be educated on and enact best practices in its response to survivors of all sexual violence is still urgent – we see its harm every day.

It is clear that we need to rise.

We won’t be marching. Publicly available information suggests that the culture of an institution meant to protect has also facilitated sexual violence against members of the community.

Taking into consideration the sexual violence perpetrated by a number of professionals in criminal justice institutions, we cannot support the traditional practice of having the police lead us through the downtown streets; a practice put in place to facilitate the rolling traffic closures required for our march. We have adapted.

This year we will be holding a gathering (which will follow public health protocols) in HARBOURSIDE PARK. There will be music, community booths, refreshments and engaging speakers.