There will be a memorial ceremony on Tuesday at noon at the Spirit Square to remember the women who were murdered on Dec. 6, 1989 at the Montreal Massacre – École Polytechnique, as well as the many other women who have died or who have gone missing due to gender based violence, are welcome to attend.
This event is put on by local women’s serving agencies: The Campbell River Women’s Centre, the Campbell River and North Island Transition Society-Ann Elmore House, Community Based Victims’ Services and the Stopping the Violence Outreach Program. A global initiative called, “16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence” is happening between Nov. 25 – Dec. 10.
The theme for 2011 is: “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World.”
Significant dates that occur within these days are:
- Nov. 25 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
This day was so declared by the United Nations to commemorate the murders of three sisters, nicknamed “Las Mariposas” or “the Butterflies,” who were political activists in the Dominican Republic.
- Nov. 29 – International Women Human Rights Defenders Day
Defending Women Defending Rights is an international campaign for the recognition and protection of women human right defenders who advocate for human rights of all people.
- Dec. 6 – The Montreal Massacre
Fourteen female students were systematically gunned down at the École Polytechnique. This was a horrific act of targeted gender-based violence.
- Dec. 10 – International Human Rights Day
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the UN general assembly in 1948 as, “..a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every organ of society, keeping this declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms…”