SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

Honourable senators, I rise today on the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the great Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. I do so with a heavy heart to begin the commemoration of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

Each year, on December 6, we remember and mourn one of this country’s worst mass femicides. But most importantly, we also take action. This year, I call on all of us in this chamber and in the other place to take the kind of meaningful action that delivers change. This is the kind of action that goes beyond ribbons and roses and invests transformational resources in grassroots, gender-based community interventions and prevention initiatives, not to reduce but to end all forms of violence against all women, girls and gender-diverse people, especially those rendered most vulnerable due to race, indigeneity, ability, sexuality and status, to name a few.

Honourable colleagues, it has been 35 years since the lives of 14 brilliant young women — as well as the promise of their potential — were brutally taken from them and from us. But let it be known that they will never be forgotten. In their names, we commit to act — to ensure the promise of current and future generations of young women is realized. And we also say their names: Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Annie-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz. In their names, we declare gender-based violence a global pandemic and take corresponding action and make decisions to eradicate it. We advocate for massive funding for crisis lines, shelters, safe and affordable housing, public education, prevention programs, trauma-informed training, safety protocols in workspaces and the like. We resolve to finally close the gender pay gap and provide livable incomes so that nobody has to stay in an abusive relationship because of poverty.

We challenge power imbalance and abuse, domination and aggression. We seek opportunities to uplift and affirm the type of humanity we want to embody and experience — a humanity of equity, mutual care and compassion.

Let us all do this as we hold in our hearts the memories of the women murdered 35 years ago and the countless thousands murdered before and since. We will never forget. Thank you. Meegwetch.