Based on an article from Bancroft This Week originally published at: http://www.bancroftthisweek.com/2013/12/10/community-members-walk-to-remember
Bancroft National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against
Women walk and vigil.
A group of about 75 Bancroft community members came out to walk and participate in a vigil marking the 25th National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, which takes place every year on Dec. 6.
On Dec. 6, 1989 a man killed 14 young women at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal because they were women. This awful event galvanized Canadians to create a yearly day of remembrance for all the woman and girls who have suffered violence, and to reflect on entrenched gender-based violence, and how to eliminate it.
Support for the local walk came from the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO), Maggie’s Resource Centre for Women, local members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and other concerned community members. Bancroft is one community that has been observing this day of remembrance since the beginning. Bancroft Deputy Mayor Wayne Wiggins and Chief Administrative Officer/Clerk Hazel Lambe attended on behalf of Mayor Bernice Jenkins who was out of town.
During the event, Marsha Depotier, MNO victim services co-ordinator read a message issued by President Gary Lipinski on December 6, which included this passage:
Part of the legacy of colonialism is the cycle of intergenerational trauma resulting from systemic abuse that has left generations of Aboriginal women particularly vulnerable to acts of violence and crime. There are over 3,000 missing or presumed dead Aboriginal women across Canada and many communities have walked to bring awareness, to bring change and to acknowledge and remember these lost women. We have called for action and public inquiries into the missing and murdered Aboriginal women, but we still wait for answers.
Click here to read President Lipinski’s entire message.
Depotier also spoke about the collective work of a number of Aboriginal groups in Canada to address these serious problems, and the current working group’s report to government ministers responsible for women’s issues and aboriginal affairs.