GNO might be most recognizable to nightlife patrons for its pink-clad teams sharing bottles of water and safety support on Vancouver’s Granville Street and in downtown Victoria on weekends. However, its impact is also felt in the back-of-house of venues across Canada. GNO offers training to the staff of music festivals and clubs, bars and restaurants on how to prevent, spot and respond to gendered harassment and abuse in their locations. That can include anything from comments and unwanted attention to drug-facilitated sexual abuse, from alcohol over-consumption to drink-spiking.

A Parallel 49 Brewing Company staff member wrote glowingly to GNO after completing its certification training, with a cold hard truth of the industry. “Hospitality is an industry that does have a dark side of persistent harassment, and the problem won’t be addressed by the big companies unless there is a level of compliance tied to it.”

In 2025, April 23 was declared Safe Spaces Hospitality Day in the city of Vancouver, recognizing local businesses that have audited their space through a City of Vancouver-funded program called Last Call and obtained credentials from GNO. Businesses that have taken GNO training are featured on a map on the non-profit’s website, helping customers make informed decisions about the businesses they support (goodnightoutvancouver.com/partners). For nightlife patrons, GNO also offers community workshops on topics like consent, substance abuse and bystander intervention.

Welcoming spaces

GNO started “out of a love for night life, out of a love for live music, out of a love for those experiences in social spaces in Vancouver,” said executive director Stacey Forrester, who collaborated with co-founder Ashtyn Bevan on what was originally a student project for Bevan in 2016.

“It was really born from a common experience to reflect on all of the amazing nights out we had, and how easily that can be ruined, how one comment, one gesture, one action, can really ruin an otherwise good experience,” Forrester said.

GNO in B.C. started as the Canadian chapter of the same-named U.K. organization that generously shared some of its tools and resources. Around the same time, the Ontario organization, the Dandelion Initiative, which folded in 2022, began doing similar work in that province.

Whether you’re feminist-minded or not, to create a space that’s welcoming to many more customers is just good business.

Stacey Forrester, Good Night Out

Generations of imbibers, particularly women, have internalized the burden of ensuring their own safety at night, whether by moderating consumption or guarding their drinks to stay safe. “If that was all it took, we would have eradicated the problem by now,” Forrester said.

A former nurse who previously worked extensively on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Forrester believes that B.C.’s relatively progressive values and a higher awareness of creating safer, protective spaces has allowed GNO to flourish in the province, where it takes a 360-degree approach of educating hospitality staff, customers and bystanders. She emphasizes, though, that even a GNO workshop isn’t a one-stop solution for any business. “The reality is, it takes culture change and culture change is very slow.”

There’s a risk that venues that have already experienced risks and problems will treat GNO training as a shield or as a badge indicating that they’ve “fixed” a problem. “We do have guardrails around that,” Forrester said, emphasizing that prevention and training are the way forward for businesses.

A poster in the bathroom or a few lines at the bottom of a menu, reminding patrons how a bar or club wants people to feel and act in the space, can bring awareness and even create a deterrent. “Over the years, we’ve seen places be really creative, with house rules or messaging created as little works of art, so safety messaging is built into the going-out experience,” Forrester said.

A healthy bottom line might just be the common-sense driver for businesses seeking GNO certification. “Whether you’re feminist-minded or not, to create a space that’s welcoming to many more customers is just good business,” Forrester said. 

More ways to have a Good Night Out

For the last two years, $2 from beers produced as part of a Collab Fest among B.C. breweries has gone to GNO. Small Gods Brewing Co., Swift Brewing, Steel & Oak Brewing, and Rewind Beer Co. were among the brewers involved.

In collaboration with the BC Craft Brewers Guild, Good Night Out (GNO) created a Guide to Protective Beer Spaces, providing a heads-up for mitigating the risks of sexual violence in breweries, tasting rooms and at beer festivals (available for purchase at goodnightoutvancouver.com/beer).

GNO has collaborated with B.C.’s funky Hotel Zed on sex-positive promotions like its Valentine’s Day Nooner promotions. From the November 30 International Day of Consent through to the end of 2024, Hotel Zed matched public donations to GNO of up to $25,000.

Café Bastille Martinez with Ketel One

This dark, savoury twist on the Martini’s precursor was one of the cocktails created in support of GNO this past spring. Recipe by Kate Chernoff, The Keefer Bar.

2 oz Ketel One Vodka 
1 oz Infused Sweet Vermouth (recipe follows)
1.5 tsp orange liqueur 
Garnish: lemon twist

Add ingredients (except garnish) to a cocktail stirring tin. Add ice and stir until chilled and diluted, up to one minute. Strain into a chilled Martini glass and garnish with a lemon twist. Serves 1.

Infused Sweet Vermouth

To a sealable container add 200 mL sweet vermouth, 20 g natural coffee beans, and 40 g dried mango. Seal (ideally with no oxygen in the container) and infuse for eight hours at room temperature. Fine-strain through a coffee filter and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one month. Makes enough for six cocktails.

This article was previously published in The Alchemist and appears by permission of the publication and author.