Remote Canadian village hosted its own Women's March with 15 of the 65 residents taking part

'It felt like one of those moments in history that you couldn't stand by and passively observe', organisers say

There may have only been 15 of them marching against the inauguration of Donald Trump, but in the tiny village of Sandy Cove in Nova Scotia, Canada that represented almost a quarter of its population of 65.

Gwen Quigley Wilson and Melissa Merritt wanted to join in with one of the worldwide marches, which saw over two million people take to the streets in over 30 different countries to protest against the anti-women policies of the new US president.

But after finding out that the nearest march was over two hours away from their home, they decided to organise their own because it felt like “one of those moments in history that you couldn’t stand by and passively observe”.

Ms Quigley Wilson told CBC News that they were not “expecting any kind of turnout”, so when 15 people showed up – nearly a quarter of the town’s population – they were “ecstatic”.

The group marched between the local school and the fire hall for an hour, enough time for two boatloads of cars leaving a nearby ferry port to pass by.

Although few appeared to honk in support, one of the marchers, Kadijah Photiades, said she did not think there signs were big enough.

But after she uploaded a short video of the march on Facebook, it had been viewed over 100,000 times and had attracted hundreds of comments.

She said it was “predominantly love and support and gratitude from women all over the world”.

She added: “One woman said she had looked at all of these marches all around the world, and it wasn't until she saw our little tiny march in Sandy Cove that she actually burst out crying”.

Ms Merritt said that she had encountered several Trump supporters in the local area and that although Washington DC was nearly a thousand miles away misogyny was everywhere.

She said: “It's really uplifting to be surrounded by people who are like-minded. It made my heart very happy to have other women stand beside me and do that.”