14 Lives Lost In Montreal In 1989 Still Being Remembered To This Day

It has been 35 years since the murder of 14 young women at Polytechnique Montreal.

On December 6, 1989, this tragic event shook our Country and led Parliament to designate this day as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

Emily Neilsen, Administrative Coordinator at the Quesnel Womens Resource Centre, said gender base violence is still happening to this very day.

“It’s actually increased in our Country and in our communities since the COVID-19 pandemic. Indigenous women, 2SLGBTQI+ , women in poverty and who are facing homelessness, are actually more vulnerable and are at risk for experiencing intimate partner or non intimate violence.”

As a community Neilsen said there’s lots we can do.

“We can educate ourselves and our families not to be bystanders if you witness abuse. You yourself can end the generational cycles of abuse within your family by being an instigator of change. If you’re in that kind of situation it takes a lot of courage and strength to seek help and it is not a sign of weakness at all, it’s a huge sign of strength,” Neilsen said.

Irene Willsie, Executive Director of the Williams Lake Womens Contact Society agrees with Neilsen about gender based violence being on the rise since the COVID pandemic.

Willsie said we still need to be diligent and working towards a more accepting and safer society.

“There’s violence in people’s homes, violence in workplaces and at schools that may not raise to the level of some aside but it is still dangerous. It’s damaging to the victims and the families and people who witness that violence. I think it’s good that we have a day in Canada that we can stop and reflect on people who have been lost because of gender based violence and to think about what each of us can do to make our communities safer and how we can do our part in making our society more accepting.”

Willsie said some ways we can make those changes is to think about the language that we use and speaking up when we see or hear something where people are doing or saying things that are disrespectful, that are insensitive to people.

“If you’re silent then that silence condones whatever is happening. I’m not saying that people should speak up when that would put their lives or their physical safety in danger. Silence is dangerous because if you don’t speak up nothing will ever change.”