Submitted by Boundary Women’s Coalition
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the murder of 14 women at l’Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal by an anti-feminist man. Since that day, annual commemorations of those victims have been held on Dec. 6, and this year will be no different in Grand Forks.
The Boundary Women’s Coalition will honour the lives of these women on Friday, Dec. 6, and is inviting the public to join them at the Women’s Resource Centre in downtown Grand Forks at 11 a.m. on Friday for their march to the cenotaph at City Hall at 11:30.
On this National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, informally known as White Ribbon Day, marchers will then return to the resource centre for lunch and a film.
The White Ribbon campaign began in 1991 by men who pledged to never commit, condone, or remain silent about violence against women and girls.
Gender-based violence is perpetrated against a person based on their gender identity, their gender expression, or their perceived gender. It impacts women and girls and disproportionately, as well as gender non-binary and LGBTQ2 individuals.
Violent crime against women occurs 5 per cent more often than men, and women are 11 times more likely to be sexually victimized, according to Statistics Canada. In Canada, women living in the territories experience violence at a rate eight times higher than those living in the provinces. As with any type of violence, it is most often inflicted upon those who are vulnerable but it is important to recognize that gender-based violence affects not only those who are abused and those who inflict the abuse. From cyber-bullying to sex trafficking, gender-based violence is a societal issue that affects families, communities, everyone.
For more information about Canadian initiatives to end gender-based violence please visit www.whiteribbon.ca and www.moosehidecampaign.ca.