Take Back the Night 2026

This year’s theme, ​“Con­sent is Everyone’s Right”, brings aware­ness to the ways in which con­sent is woven into every part of our lives, from our bod­ies and rela­tion­ships, to work­places, homes, schools, and com­mu­ni­ties. When everyone’s right to con­sent is respect­ed, we gain more trust, more con­nec­tion, more joy and more agency to shape our lives, both indi­vid­u­al­ly and col­lec­tive­ly. Con­sent is the foun­da­tion to how we build a bet­ter world together!

Con­sent is not a priv­i­lege, it’s a right. One that belongs to every per­son, in every lan­guage, in every com­mu­ni­ty. This year, we are excit­ed to ampli­fy the mes­sage ​“Con­sent is MY right” across lan­guages, aim­ing to empow­er the many cul­tures and voic­es that make up the city of Hamilton. 

No mat­ter where you come from, what lan­guage you speak, or what your sto­ry is, you are wel­come here and you are enti­tled to the same rights, dig­ni­ty and free­dom as any­one else. We take back the streets and demand the right to live and thrive safe­ly by com­ing togeth­er as a com­mu­ni­ty as part of a move­ment for change.

Take Back the Night is a space for all sur­vivors of sex­u­al vio­lence, gen­der-based vio­lence and street harass­ment, as well as our allies, advo­cates and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers — a night to reclaim con­sent, to demand bet­ter, to stand in sol­i­dar­i­ty with those who’s rights are under attack and to remind one anoth­er that none of us are alone. 

Join us as we raise our voic­es, in every lan­guage, as we advo­cate for a future where con­sent, safe­ty and free­dom from vio­lence is the stan­dard and is not optional. 

Take Back the Night is an annu­al event that has been hap­pen­ing in Hamil­ton for over 45 years and con­tin­ues to hap­pen every Sep­tem­ber all over the world. Our goal is to denounce sex­u­al vio­lence, gen­der based vio­lence and street harass­ment while pro­vid­ing a space for empow­er­ment and sol­i­dar­i­ty with sur­vivors. We will have a gath­er­ing with com­mu­ni­ty tables, an Indige­nous mar­ket, live music, activ­i­ties, give­aways, and more! Fol­low­ing that we will ral­ly with speech­es from com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers who will speak on our theme. And then the most icon­ic part of the night we march with signs and chants through the streets to take up space and assert ours rights to live safely!

TBTN is hap­pen­ing on Thurs­day Sep­tem­ber 17^th 2026. 

6pm — 8pm Com­mu­ni­ty Tables, Indige­nous Mar­ket, Activ­i­ties, Per­for­mances, Give­aways, & More

8pm — 8:15pm Wel­come, Speech­es, Chants

8:15pm — 9:15pm March Through the Streets!

Gath­er­ing Loca­tion: Hamil­ton City Hall Forecourt 

March will take place start­ing and end­ing at City Hall. Roads will be closed for the march. There will be a short­cut through Bay St for folks who can­not walk the whole route. See route map below.

Peo­ple of all gen­ders and all ages are wel­come to attend TBTN. This includes sur­vivors, advo­cates and allies who sup­port SACHA’s work and want to show love and sol­i­dar­i­ty to sur­vivors. If you care about cre­at­ing a world free of vio­lence this event is for you! As a com­mu­ni­ty we have power!

TBTN has mar­shals who are either SACHA Staff, TBTN Com­mit­tee Mem­bers or vol­un­teers who have all attend­ed train­ing for their role in de-esca­la­­tion, and anti-racism, anti-oppres­­sion practices. 

• Mar­shal­ing at Take Back The Night is one of the ways in which we keep each oth­er safe and reflect affirm­ing mes­sages back to our com­mu­ni­ty as we march.
• Mar­shals assist in hold­ing ban­ners with affirm­ing and sup­port­ive mes­sages along the march­ing route, using ban­ners as a visu­al block to cre­ate a safer space for all sur­vivors attend­ing the event.
• Mar­shals may also walk along the sides, front, and back of the march to assist and sup­port com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers. Mar­shals will not police how com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers express them­selves, and are present to sup­port the safe­ty of every­one participating.
• Mar­shalls are the first point of con­tact for any­one par­tic­i­pat­ing at Take Back The Night if there is a con­cern or some­thing requires attention.
• Mar­shalls have received non-vio­­lent de-esca­la­­tion train­ing from SACHA and will engage with the pub­lic using what they have learned
• Mar­shalls are respon­si­ble for han­dling any sit­u­a­tions that may arise dur­ing the march, access­ing the sit­u­a­tion and con­nect­ing with SACHA’s Direc­tor if fur­ther attention/​support is needed
• We ask all Take Back The Night par­tic­i­pants to allow Mar­shalls to han­dle sit­u­a­tions and not to get involved in any dis­rup­tions to the march should they arise.

In order to gain City of Hamil­ton approval for TBTN to have a march on Hamil­ton streets it is required that there be a police pres­ence at TBTN. There will be 9 offi­cers with 3 police cruis­ers sta­tioned near­by the march. We have con­firmed with HPS that police offi­cers will be sta­tioned off of the march route (one inter­sec­tion away) except in 2 spots required by HPS and the City of Hamil­ton where they will be sta­tioned on the route. Police are there in a road clo­sure capac­i­ty only and not for crowd con­trol (see Mar­shal sec­tion below for more on their roles dur­ing the march). We under­stand that a police pres­ence may be a bar­ri­er for some peo­ple to be able to safe­ly attend the event.

Dur­ing the com­mu­ni­ty gath­er­ing we will have live music per­for­mances from local artists meant to empow­er, build con­nec­tion, and cre­ate sol­i­dar­i­ty! More info com­ing soon!

At the ral­ly start­ing at 8pm you will hear from some amaz­ing speak­ers, shar­ing their wis­dom and get­ting us excit­ed to march. More info com­ing soon!