Take Back the Night drew around 100 participants in Brampton on Sept. 19.

The event, which included sexual assault survivors’ stories, a resource fair and a march through downtown Brampton, advocates to end gender-based violence and asserts the right of women to safely walk alone at night.

Here are five quotes from participants:

Rae-Ann Downer, survivor, on sharing her story of sexual violence in public:

"It's therapeutic, especially if it's shared with people who have been through it. I've shared my story with a lot of people that cannot relate to anything I say and it does feel weird. But it's my truth, right. So I do think people should share and not be afraid of that."

"Ose," survivor, on how to get through sexual violence:

"You need a support system to take you through that time when you can't think when you can't even make decisions for yourself, you are too depressed to even help yourself. You just need to speak out to somebody, tell somebody what you're going through because if you don't say it out it might just eat you up."

Anu Radha Verma, organizer with QTBIPOC Sauga, survivor, on Take Back the Night happening days after a Brampton woman was killed when her husband allegedly assaulted her:

"It feels sombre in some ways because we need to remember someone who's name we don't know. We don't know if that person every tried to access services. We don't know if the neighbours heard things and didn't do anything about it. There's a lot of things we don't know. Take Back the Night is also very powerful for people to actually take to the streets and I think what's kept the event alive over decades is the idea of saying we should be able to feel safe no matter where we go."

Sharon Mayne Devine, CEO of Catholic Family Services of Peel-Dufferin, on whether the streets are safer for women now than in the past: