Two women of Sandy Cove recruited 15 people to walk along major highway in Canada in solidarity with millions who participated around the world

When Melissa Merritt and Gwen Quigley Wilson decided to join millions around the world and organise a Women’s March in their tiny fishing community in eastern Canada, they knew it would not be large.

But the closest protest to Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia, (population: approximately 65) was in Halifax – about a 2.5 hour drive away – and the two women felt they had no other choice.

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“We were prepared that it might be just us two,” said Merritt. “It’s very rural here, there’s not a big population. I’m sure the mean age here is 70.”



So the pair pushed ahead with their plans, inviting everyone they knew and mapping out a two-mile route that would take them from the local school to the fire hall.

“It was a moment in history where I felt I couldn’t just sit back passively and observe it happening around me. I wanted to participate, I wanted to be able to say that I had done something,” said Quigley Wilson.

On Saturday – as an estimated million people descended on Washington and hundreds of thousands more marched in more than 20 countries around the world – Merritt and Quigley Wilson were stunned to find a dozen or so people waiting at their starting point.

“It was really exciting,” Merritt said of the 12 women, one toddler and two men who had braved the rainy, chilly day to march with them. “I know it didn’t look like a lot, but for us it was a lot.”

As the group sloshed through puddles along Highway 217 – the only road that runs through Sandy Cove – dozens of cars passed them. Some drivers honked in support, while others shot them curious looks, said Merritt. “You’re already thought of as weirdo if you just go for a walk here. So going out and protesting anything is a big deal.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest About 15 people showed up to the Sandy Cove Women’s March in Nova Scotia. Photograph: Gary Wilson

Their tiny but mighty march has since made waves. A short video showing participants waving signs and ringing noisemakers and decked out in winter hats and scarves has been viewed more than 150,000 times, and attracted comments from around the world.

The attention has been somewhat mystifying for the march’s two organizers.

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“People said that they started crying when they saw it. Why do you think it touched so many people?” Merritt wondered.

“You saw all that on TV and all those thousands of people standing out there, that’s very impressive. We were not so impressive, I think,” she added with a laugh.

Quigley Wilson pointed to Trump’s election, as well as the recent birth of her granddaughter, as her motivation to march. “I certainly was impacted by Trump’s election and was very disturbed by it and disheartened by it, but I think the issue of women’s rights was really the bigger and more motivating thing for me,” she said.

“At the back of my mind was the fact that I want her to grow up in a world where she has equal opportunity with everybody and that she doesn’t need to be afraid of anybody. Part of it was marching for her and women around the world.”

The group is now grappling with the question being asked across the US and around the world: now that millions have marched, what happens next? A meeting is being planned this week to discuss how to keep the movement going in Sandy Cove, said Merritt. “We just don’t want these marches to sort of end and everybody just go back to the way they were.”