CALL TO ACTION TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GENDER DIVERSE PEOPLE
Disclaimer this article deals with the topic of gender-based violence. While we are all called to reflect and to act on how we might impact our world to make it safer for all genders, please read if it feels safe for you.
Today Dec 6th, marks the 31st Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre or La Polytechnique. The FMWC remembers the 14 women who were murdered in the prime of their lives; 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, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, of la Polytechnique.
As we #saytheirnames let us pause with the weight and impact of violence against women, girls and gender diverse people.
We remember our colleague Dr. Elana Fric, and all women who have experienced or continue to experience gender-based violence.
As we commit ourselves, and our organizations to reflect on the impacts we make, we commit to supporting our Indigenous Partners in learning more about Truth and Reconciliation and our impact and remembering all our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Metis, First Nations, and Inuit across our nation.
We live in a world where gender and intersectionality impact the lives of people so deeply it is painful to witness. This year the impact of Covid 19 on Gender Based Violence is apparent on our frontlines and in our statistics. We applaud all those walking with women, gender diverse people, or men impacted by gender-based violence.
We witness this violence and we find the opportunities for us to say no, no more.
We will honour our sisters. We will honour girls and women as sacred life givers. We will honour our girls. We will honour our boys. We will honour the non-binary.
We will listen with 2 ears to our Ancestors and to the healers and leaders in the world who bring peace.
No person is owned. No child can be sold. No girl can be stolen from her school.
No woman may be shot at university. No woman can be murdered in her home.
We will stop the genocide of our Indigenous peoples.
We will commit to holding a light to all our actions for compassion, equality and love so we inspire a generation of kindness, and empowerment.
Nationally and internationally our normalization of sexualized violence versus consent culture is harmful to all. The overrepresentation of violence against gender, sexual and racial minorities and the intersectional experience of victim blaming and marginalization are insidious.
Thirty-one years after the Montreal Massacre, we remain Called to Action. Now is the time. The Pandemic. The Fentanyl Crisis. Wars. Isolation. We are called to do the right things. We have the power and the resource to do this.
We are called to action for national and international action plans to end Gender Based Violence and Violence Against Women and Gender Diverse People.
Join IPAC
Make a commitment to a shelter (sheltersafe.ca)
Sit with a woman experiencing GBV
Teach a man about IPV
Become Political: take a leadership role
Nominate a Woman for an Award
Join our Gender Based Violence Committee
Join our Women, Peace, and Security Committee
What is your Call to Action?
With love and a call for action for a safe and equal tomorrow for all our children,
Charissa