“As a survivor, I want to encourage women to come forward and ask for help if they need it,” - Hina

32 years ago on Dec 6th 1989, Marc Lépine killed 14 women and wounded many at Polytechnique Montréal engineering school. He hated women and thought they were beneath men. But he was not only a terrorist but had wrong notion about women. Nathalie Provost, who confronted and was injured by him, had a successful career in Québec’s public service. And so did other survivors. 

SInce that tragic incidence, Dec. 6 is marked as national day of remembrance and action on violence against women in Canada. Internationally November 25th is marked as Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Women and Children’s Shelter of Barrie (Barrie Shelter) marked these both occasions.

There are more success stories of women survivors in every part of Canada and Barrie is no exception. Hina’s story is one of them. A Pakistani immigrant and mother escaped the abusive relationship with the help of Shelter. She raised the Wrapped in Courage flag at Barrie City Hall on November 25. “I had no hope or future, I was not aware that if I leave my abusive ex, I would get help,” Hina said. She encouraged other women to get help too. 

There are thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Canada likes to point out to other nations about human rights violations but from time to time has failed to fully acknowledge, take responsibility and help these women and families. 

The Canadian government has lessons to learn from Barrie Shelter that started the Dec 6 event acknowledging missing and murdered Indigenous women. It started with a player from Ernestine Baldwin for missing and murdered Indigenous women. She is one of the founders and elder at the Barrie Native Friendship Centre. 

“We pray for those who have already gone to the spirit world. Those are sisters, murdered women, indigenous women and girls,” Baldwin said. “Those who are missing, we pray for those who are grieving.”

Executive Director of Barrie Shelter, Teresa MacLennan talked about the widespread problem of violence against women. “Over half of all Canadian women have experienced at least one act of physical violence or sexual violence. One in three women have that experience since the age of 16,” she said. “Women with disabilities are nearly twice as likely as women without a disability to have at least one experience of sexual violence in the past 12 months.” Despite these problems, Canadian cities are not prepared to adequately help women in need. Barrie Shelter has to turn away hundreds of women every night due to the lack of space. 

Samantha Kinoshameg, executive director of Barrie Native Friendship Centre, spoke about what it is like to be a woman leader in Barrie. Kinoshameg said everybody visiting the Centre “does have a story about an indigenous woman who has gone missing or has been murdered in their families.”

The term femicide is used for an intentional killing of a woman because they are women. At the end, a local singer Kat Chabot sang a song titled Angel by Sarah Maclean to remember 58 women who were killed because of their gender.