30 years after “Bread and Roses,” thousands of women march in Quebec
Posted October 18, 2025 11:45 am.
30 years after the “Bread and Roses” women’s march, initiated by the Fédération des femmes du Québec and its then president, Françoise David, against women’s poverty and violence, thousands of people plan to repeat the march this Saturday and converge on the National Assembly of Quebec.
This time, the theme of the World March of Women in Quebec City is “Still marching to transform the world.” The Quebec Coordination of the World March of Women (CQMMF) says it expects more than 10,000 participants in front of the Quebec Parliament Building.
This major day of collective mobilization aims once again to denounce poverty and violence against women, but also “the environmental crisis in order to oppose a vision of a just, united and feminist world,” according to the organizers of the event.
Several unions have announced that hundreds of their members, such as those from the CSN, the CSQ and the FTQ, will participate in the World March of Women on Oct. 18 in Quebec City, as will the Mothers at the Front movement.
The day will begin with a press briefing around 11 a.m., followed by the convoy’s departure on a two-kilometer march about an hour later. Speeches and performances are planned until around 4 p.m.
In 1995, the women’s march against poverty initiated by Françoise David, who later served as a Québec solidaire member of the National Assembly until her resignation in 2017, took the form of a 10-day march, from May 26 to June 4, 1995.
On June 4, 1995, more than 15,000 women marched in front of the National Assembly of Quebec to demand better working and living conditions. Of these, 800 women were part of three contingents who walked 200 km to get there in a march now known by the theme of the time: “Bread and Roses.”
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
