So, I had an amazing time on our Jane's Walk. We tried to keep it as non-political as possible, but you and I know the personal is political, and it's hard to say it was a purely informational/historical walking tour when it involved radical acts like women talking about their abortion experiences through a megaphone. It was a big deal.
We had a great crowd and lovely weather, and we took a little longer than the two hours we had planned. We covered about 5km of history throughout downtown Toronto; for those interested, the stops we covered were: 85 Harbord St. (the site of the Morgentaler Clinic that was firebombed), Robarts Library (on the U of T campus), Planned Parenthood, U of T Faculty of Law, Queen's Park, Women's College Hospital, Bay Centre for Birth Control, Native Child and Family Services, Women's Health in Women's Hands, Hassle Free Clinic, Allan Gardens (for both the Scott Clinic and Sherbourne Health Centre), and ending at the Cabbagetown Women's Clinic.
I learned a lot while researching for the walk: for example, I had no idea that anonymous HIV testing used to be illegal in Canada! There was so much info for each site, I think we could have easily made the walk twice as long.
I got thoroughly sunburnt.
I just want to thank everyone who came out, and especially my co-organizers Jordan Hale and Emma Woolley. I hope that it becomes an ongoing Jane's Walk with or without our involvement.
Photo credit: Matt Thompson
No comments:
Post a Comment