All are welcome to the annual Vigil to End Violence Against Women on Thursday, December 6 at the Bridge View Café, 112-1290 Esplanade Ave (Fortis Building), from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Free coffee and goodies will be served, followed by the vigil at 5 p.m.
This simple commemoration will help participants to remember and honour the many women in our country and the world who have been affected by violence and abuse. To help mark the occasion, the City of Trail will again turn the lights red on the Victoria Street Bridge.
This will be the 29th anniversary of a terrible event that took place In Montreal on December 6, 1989 when a man entered the School of Engineering at Ecole Polytechnique.
He then systematically murdered 14 young women.
In 1991, the Parliament of Canada declared December 6 to be a Day of Remembrance and Action to End Violence Against Women.
Almost three decades later, the statistics and headlines continue to remind us that abuse of women is still an unresolved, serious issue throughout our society, with an average of 1 woman killed every 6 days in our country.
Every night in Canada over 3,491 women and their 2,724 children are in shelters trying to escape violence. Hundreds are turned away because there is no room. For these reasons, and more, it’s important that we not only remember the affected women but also take time to consider what we each can do to help end abuse of women in all forms.
Vigil sponsor, the Trail Interagency VAWIR (Violence Against Women in Relationships) Committee, is made up of representatives from several local organizations working with women and children.
Members come from the Ministry of Children and Family Development, RCMP Victim Services, Mental Health and Substance Use Services, RCMP, Adult Probation and Trail FAIR’s Stopping the Violence Counseling, WINS Transition House and Specialized Victim Services programs.
For more information about the vigil or about services and resources available to women threatened by violence and abuse call the Trail FAIR office at 250.364.2326.
