Please see the below statement from Elizabeth May, MP for Saanich–Gulf Islands and Leader of the Green Party of Canada, recognising December 6th as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women:
“Today we remember and mourn the 14 women who were murdered in the 1989 attack at École Polytechnique – killed because they were women. An additional 10 women and four men were injured in the shooting. It remains the most haunting act of violence against women and misogyny in Canadian history. We will never forget these women, whose legacy has reverberated throughout our responses to gender-based violence. Yet as we saw with the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, there are still many barriers to believing female victims and the innocent partners and spouses of perpetrators. Vulnerable communities like Indigenous women, trans women and racialized and immigrant women all face disproportionate violence and their loved ones too often never receive justice.
Violence against women particularly through intimate partners is an ongoing scandal. The genocide of Indigenous women and girls continues. We must implement all 231 calls to justice of the Final Report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. I have echoed recent calls for a national Red Dress Alert system, which would raise alarms immediately for Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people who are missing. We must also remember Chantel Moore and those lost in Nova Scotia and elsewhere. Please read YWCA Canada’s recommendations on how you can support action on violence against women here, and consider donating to support their work!”