2024 EVENT SAFETY

We keep each other safe

As practiced in many marginalized communities, the 2SLGBTQIA+ community with all our identities and intersections rely on internal structures of safety and community care to keep ourselves safe. Our safety depends on empathy for our identities and experiences that is most understood by other community members rather than by external forces such as colonial law enforcement and “criminal justice” systems.

The Vancouver Dyke March works closely with our volunteers, safety marshals, and a grassroots community safety organization to review safety practices and provide training for our event. Our approach to safety emphasizes de-escalation through non-violent engagement and communication.

We ask participants to participate in keeping each other safe by looking out for and checking in with each other throughout the day. Please remember to center the safety of the more marginalized and vulnerable folks in our community. This includes racialized folks, disabled folks, trans folks, unhoused folks, park residents, and the younger and older members of our community.

Most importantly, we emphasize that policing bodies such as VPD and RCMP are unsafe for many community members. We encourage all attendees to find a volunteer/organizer as a first response to any safety incident at our event and to reconsider dialing for police as an emergency response option.

MARCH & FESTIVAL SAFETY INFORMATION

VPD/Police Presence

The Vancouver Dyke March does not invite the police to our march and festival. However, attendees should be aware that the VPD always sends traffic control officers in uniform to block traffic on Commercial Drive during the march. We actively discourage police from attending our event and engaging with our community.

Volunteers & Safety Marshals

Volunteers and Safety Marshals will be present at McSpadden Park before the march, will be scattered along the march route, and present at the festival as well. Attendees can approach volunteers in high-visibility vests for help with safety concerns, incidents, and active listening.

COVID-19 & Other Respiratory Diseases

COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases continue to be a huge safety concern for disabled and immunocompromised members of our community. Our 2024 event is approaching in a season when COVID-19 infection rates are particularly high. All attendees are encouraged to wear a mask at our event. If you feel ill, have symptoms, or have been in close contact with people who have tested positive for COVID-19, please stay home. More information about masking and mask-mandatory areas of our march & festival can be found in the Accessibility page.

Counter-Protestors & Agitators

On occasion, our event encounters organized or individual counter-protestors and agitators. In the past, this has included TERFs/SWERFs, homophobic preachers, and right-wing independent media reporters. While attendees are free to engage as they like, we encourage attendees to inform volunteers first when these folks are spotted. The Vancouver Dyke March has trained volunteers and safety marshals to de-escalate counter-protest situations and bigoted agitators. Please do not engage in any situations alone.

First Aid

First-Aid certified volunteers will be carrying a first aid kit through our march. We will have a volunteer-run First Aid tent at Grandview Park during the festival. This red tent will be located on the left side of the grass field when facing the stage and across the pathway from the VDM tent.

Because our festival is in the hottest month of the year, be sure to be attentive about heat-related safety. Our first aid tent can treat heat emergencies. Please see information on our Accessibility page on how to keep cool during our event.

Harm Reduction

The VDM tent will have a small supply of naloxone kits and various harm reduction supplies for anyone who needs them.

Hate Symbols & Graffiti

Hate speech, symbols & graffiti are not tolerated at our event. VDM volunteers and supporters go through our parks and march route to remove hate symbols ahead of our event. Attendees are encouraged to remove or inform a volunteer if they see any homophobic, transphobic, sex-worker-phobic, racist, anti-Indigenous or otherwise harmful symbols and messages during our event.

Incident Response

For any other incidents at our event, please inform a volunteer in a high visibility vest and walkie-talkie or come to the blue VDM tent to inform an organizer at the festival.

Buddy System

We encourage everyone attending and leaving the event to do so with a buddy. If you are leaving the event and need someone to walk you to a car or bus stop, please ask any volunteer in a high visibility vest.

Requests or Feedback?

Prior to the event day, please contact us at accessiblity@VancouverDykeMarch.com with any safety requests or feedback.

On the day of the event, come to the Vancouver Dyke March tent in the center of the festival for assistance or to leave any requests and feedback for our organizers.

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