Minister Marci Ien on the Nationwide Day of Remembrance and Motion on Violence In opposition to Girls
The Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Girls and Gender Equality and Youth, issued the next assertion as we speak on the Nationwide Day of Remembrance and Motion on Violence In opposition to Girls:
“December 6, 1989 is a day that shook Canadians to their core. On at the present time, 35 years in the past, a gunman walked right into a classroom at Polytechnique Montréal, separated the ladies from the boys and opened hearth on the ladies. Fourteen girls misplaced their lives that day, and 13 extra had been wounded – just because they had been girls.
Their names are Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz.
They had been college students, daughters, sisters, colleagues and pals – with skills and passions. As we speak we are saying their names and do not forget that the misogyny they confronted continues to be a critical challenge as we speak. Simply final 12 months, 187 girls had been victims of gender-related homicides in Canada – that’s one girl each two days. Too many lives are misplaced and too many individuals proceed to expertise gender-based violence in our nation.
It’s essential to contain everybody in Canada – together with males and boys – in altering social norms, attitudes and behaviours that contribute to gender-based violence.
Whereas we can not change what occurred that day, we’ll proceed to recollect the victims and work to finish gender-based violence. We’ve now launched into the second 12 months of the Nationwide Motion Plan to Finish Gender-based Violence, and are working intently with provinces and territories in partnership with victims, survivors, Indigenous communities, civil society, frontline service suppliers, municipalities, and the non-public sector to deal with the wants of victims and survivors of gender-based violence.
I invite all Canadians to be a part of the answer by listening to survivors and consultants on the frontlines; study to acknowledge the indicators of gender-based violence, take the time to watch what is occurring round you – at dwelling, in your college, in your office and in your group – and don’t hesitate to achieve out for help for your self or your family members. Collectively, we are able to create a Canada freed from gender-based violence, the place everybody feels secure.”
#NationalDayOfRemembrance #EndViolenceAgainstWomen #RememberThem #GenderEquality