In Canada, Norah Kennedy, executive director of Family Transition Place (FTP) said the following at a ceremony in recognition of the 21st anniversary of the Montreal Massacre:
“We live in a culture where men’s violence against women is not openly condoned or tolerated, and yet it still manages to fly beneath the radar as an unpleasant, yet unalterable social reality.”
She said that between 2000 and 2006, 101 Canadian soldiers and police officers were killed. But during that same period, more than 500 women were murdered by intimate partners, consisting mainly of men.
In 2009, 19 women were killed in domestic violence acts in Ontario.
Kennedy called on women to encourage men to get involved, and to try to get them to understand the inequalities and stereotypes that are present. She said, “Don’t accept the degrading joke or comment, the macho posturing. Find a way to get involved, with us or another organization.”
The history behind the Montreal Massacre is that on Dec. 6, 1989 a gunman murdered 14 women at Montreal’s L’Ecole Polytechnique. The gunman, Marc Lepine, 25, separated women from men before he shot the female engineering students. He apparently believed that feminists had ruined his life.
Orangeville police chief Joseph Tomei said the following about the massacre, “This cowardly and heinous act should never be forgotten, but his sad and tragic act has also come to symbolize a wider pattern of violence against women in society.”
In recognition of the anniversary, Orangeville councilor Sylvia Bradley proclaimed the anniversary, National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Orangeville.
According to the website Orangeville.com, the source of this article, each year more than 360,000 children in Canada are exposed to domestic violence. In the workplace homicide is the number one killer of women in Canada.
Gogi Bhandal of the Canadian Labour Congress spoke about how each person can make a difference in stopping violence against women. Bhandal said, “We make a difference when we speak out against bullying, harassment and discrimination of any kind. We make a difference when we raise strong, compassionate children. We make a difference when we fight for women’s equality and economic security.”
After the ceremony, many people tied white ribbons on FTP’s Tree of Hope, as part of the White Ribbon Campaign, which is a movement that involves men who want to stop violence against women.