Thousands of Calgarians rally to support Women's March on Washington

More than 5,000 people packed the front of Calgary's City Hall Saturdayto march in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington.

Calgary's event was one of 30 "sister marches" held across Canada and one of more than 600 planned worldwide for the day after U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration.

PriyaKailawas one of the many who showed up downtown Saturday. She saidshe was marching in an effort to show the world these are issues matter.

"A lotof people like toact like feminism isn't a real thing and it's not an actual issue that wehave to talk about, but there arehundredsof people here so obviously this issomethingwe've got to talk about,"Kailasaid.

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Organizer AdoraNwoforimplored the crowd of men, women and children to support women in fields from everything from politics to stand-up comedy.

"Women and people who support women have said, 'that's enough, we are tired of seeing the people that we love and care about not be respected, not be treated well, not be heard, not be represented,'" she said.

The crowd filledthe steps at City Halland packedthe street, pouring into Olympic Plaza. The event even drew Alberta-born singers Jann Arden and k.d. lang, with langtweeting prior to the event she wouldn't be performing, but "I imagine I will be yelling."

Though the march began as a response to Trump's election win, the march's message broadenedto include social justice issues relating to race, religion, immigration and LGBT rights.

"I think with the inauguration of Trump yesterday, it was important to be the antidote to that hatred," said Ken Trudeau, who attended the event with his two youngchildren in tow.

The hatred many attendees saidthey weretaking a stand against goes beyond comments made across the border.

Carolyn Greene saidit's a message for Canadian politicians too.

"This march represents a whole host of issues, obviously women's rights is important but there are a lot of other things that I think are under threat facts matter, the attack on science and scientific evidence, these sorts of things we have faced in our own country," she said.

"With the upcoming Conservative leadership race, I think these are issues that all Canadians need to be thinking about."

Calgary wasn't the only Alberta city to hold a women's rally Saturday. An event in Edmonton drew around 3,500 peopleand in Lethbridge, more than 300 gathered to participate in the march.