National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
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December 6 marks the day of remembrance and action on violence against women, which became nationally recognized in 1991. As a country, we remembered the 14 women, who lost their lives when they were murdered in an act of gender-based violence at l’Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal which happened on December 6, 1989. This year, 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the massacre.
On December 6, 2019, at 12pm, a large crowd of people gathered in the McKay Room in Bloomfield Centre on the StFX Campus for a ceremony hosted by StFX and Syrian Antigonish Families Embrace (SAFE). Those in attendance wore purple ribbons to show their support for the national day of remembrance and action on violence against women.
The event had two keynote speakers. The first speaker was Lucille Harper, the chair for SAFE. In her speech, she talked about the generational impact of gender-based violence. The second speaker was Alaa Haddad, who came to Canada three years ago and now works for Peace by Chocolate, a company started by a family of Syrian refugees, based out of Antigonish. Alaa Haddad talked about moving to Canada with her two young children, and the impacts of conflict on women and families.
The event’s emcees also acknowledged missing and murdered indigenous women, hanging a red dress on the stage as a visual representation of those we’ve lost. Keynote speaker Lucille Harper reported that, the RCMP’s report in 2014 found that more than one thousand indigenous women were murdered over the last 30 years. In 2015, it was found that the homicide rate for indigenous women is 6 percent higher than the rate of non-indigenous woman.
Every year at this event, the StFX Dean of Science presents bursaries to first year female engineering students. The first bursary was The Memorial Scholarship for Women in Engineering, and was awarded to Yagmur Var. The second bursary was the General Motors of Canada Ltd. Women in Science Bursary, awarded to Tracy Kinyenye. These bursaries are awarded to first year engineering students each year in remembrance of the 14 engineering female students who were killed at l’Ecole Polytechnique.
Keynote speaker Lucille Harper finished her speech with a powerful call to action:
“So what is our responsibility, our voices here at home, on our campuses, in our communities. We can speak out about violence. We can challenge all systems. Understanding the violence against women and girls is absolutely critical to change. I call upon all of us to act together and bring the change that we desperately need in our world for all women and girls. We are here, we can do it, it’s up to us.”
The ceremony ended with a member from the RCMP walking to the stage carrying 14 red roses, each rose as a symbol of the 14 women who were killed at l’Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal on December 6, 1989. The presentation was followed by a moment of silence.
In Antigonish we have many services aimed at supporting and helping women. The Antigonish Women’s Resource Centre and Sexual Assault Services Association, located on 219 Main Street, the is a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program (SANE), available 24/7, and the StFX Health and Counselling Centre, located in 305 Bloomfield. The fact that each of these programs exists tells us that there is still violence against women, and can show us where to start out action to help put a stop to it.
As we reflect on December 6 and the issue of violence facing women in Canada, and around the world, we leave our readers with a question: what can we do in our community to put an end to violence against women?
