NDP statement on the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women « Canada’s NDP
Canada’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh issued the following statement:
“On this day, we remember the senseless act of femicide that shook the country. 14 women were brutally murdered on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique de Montréal.
Today, we pay them tribute: 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 and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz.
They were killed because they were women.
Today is also a reminder that gun violence has no place in our society and that everyone has a role to call out all forms of misogyny and harmful attitudes and actions when we encounter them.
The sad reality is, in Canada, women still disproportionately experience violence. Four in ten women have lived through some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetimes. It shouldn’t be this way. Women and girls deserve to feel safe in their homes and communities.
The problem is even more dire for Indigenous women and girls who are 12 times more likely to be murdered or missing than any other women in Canada. We bear witness to an ongoing genocide against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in this country. That’s why the NDP joined families and advocates to push for the creation of a Red Dress Alert to save lives.
We must do everything in our power to end gender-based violence in Canada.
There is much more that the federal government could be doing to address these systemic issues and help keep women safe. Starting with real, meaningful action to address gun violence, stable, predictable funding for shelters and organizations who help women fleeing violence.
In the cherished memory of those who were taken from their loved ones, New Democrats renew our efforts to end gender-based violence once and for all.”