National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women 2023
On this National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women…
CFUW-FCFDU remembers the 14 women who were murdered 34 years ago at the École Polytechnique simply because they were women: 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.
We honour the Indigenous, racialized, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals who have been and continue to be disproportionately impacted by gender-based and colonial violence.
We draw attention to the alarming prevalence of femicide—intentional killing with a gender-related motivation—in grief and homage to all women and girls who have been killed as a result of gender-based violence. Tragically, the names of more and more women and girls are added to this list every week. In the last month alone, we have seen a horrifying number of femicides:
We remember Janice Madison, who was a “kind-hearted person who always prioritized others over herself.” Her husband is charged with her death in Windsor on November 14 (CTV News).
We remember Carol Fournier, who was a “loving and caring person.” She was killed by her partner, who had faced charges for intimate partner violence, in Sudbury on November 8 (CBC News).
We remember Latonya Anderson, a “vivacious and ambitious woman.” Police believe she was the victim of intimate partner violence, killed in Whitby on November 4 (CTV News).
We remember Hollie Marie Boland, a “soft-hearted, funny, hard-working mom.” She was struck by a car driven by her ex-partner—who was out on bail while facing previous charges for assaulting her—in Halifax on October 30 (Global News).
We remember Angie Sweeney and the three children killed by a man with a history of intimate partner violence in Sault Ste. Marie on October 23. Angie’s father says she “loved life and knew how to live it” (CBC News).
We pay tribute to the countless other victims of gender-based violence, including those who have not been named publicly, and hope their families and communities receive justice.
We promise to support and believe survivors of gender-based and intimate partner violence, today and every day.
We call on every municipality, province, and territory to declare gender-based violence an epidemic, and to acknowledge gender-based killings of women as what they are: femicides. We urge CFUW-FCFDU members and all individuals in Canada to write to their Mayors asking them to declare gender-based violence an epidemic, if they have not done so already (template letter available here).
We demand far more progress on the 231 Calls for Justice in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report and on the 100 civil society policy recommendations in the Report to Guide the Implementation of a National Action Plan on Violence Against Women and Gender-Based Violence.
We grieve, we mourn, and we vow to act to bring this epidemic to an end once and for all. We do so in solidarity with allies across the country and across the world, and in gratitude for their dedication and resilience.