On December 6th every year, we gather to remember women and children who have been murdered.

Talking about harm being done to members of our community is hard. We need to take care, both in how we have these difficult conversations and in how we take care of ourselves and each other

The date is important. On December 6, 1989 a man walked in to École Polytechnique de Montréal, separated the men from the women, and killed 13 women – mostly students and one administrator. He killed them because they were women. He killed them because he thought women were taking his place in engineering school, that women were taking what he thought was ‘his’.

The shocking impact of their deaths was a turning point for Canada.

In the late 80’s, the real problem of gender-based violence had been hidden, not talked about, considered a ‘family problem’. The first shelter for women leaving violence in Canada, spearheaded by survivors and activists, only opened in 1973. 

The Montréal Massacre was a call to action that gave community members a reason to mobilize and build on the work that had been done by survivors and activists in church basements, in our homes, and in shelters.

The Canadian Parliament has designated December 6th as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

Not all violence that women experience ends in death. The toll of being put down daily, the walking on eggshells, having money and friendships strictly controlled, is debilitating and dehumanizing. But lethality is still an issue for women in our communities.

Approximately every six days, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner. Out of the 83 police-reported intimate partner homicides in 2014, 67 of the victims—over 80%—were women.[1]

Sadly, the murder of women, just because they are women, is not in our distant past. On September 2015 in Renfrew, Ontario Anastasia Kuzyk, Nathalie Warmerdam, and Carol Culleton were murdered by a man they had all dated. In April 2018 a man who thought that women were required to give him sex killed eight women and two men with a van in Toronto, Ontario.

Indigenous women experience much higher rates of violence than non-Indigenous women because of the ongoing impacts of colonialism.

There were 1,181 cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada between 1980 and 2012, according to the RCMP.[2] However, according to grassroots organizations and the Minister of the Status of Women the number is much higher, closer to 4,000.[3]

Indigenous women are killed at six times the rate of non-Indigenous women.[4]

“Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.” – Mother Jones

We still have a long way to go. In 1989 in Montreal, women in engineering were specifically targeted. In 2019, women are still only a quarter of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workplaces.[5] Even though women are graduating with half of STEM degrees,[6] we only stay in the field for seven years before moving to health or education. Women in science don’t leave because we’re not gifted, but because of the pay gap and sexism in the workplace.

We deserve space to talk about injustice, to grieve, to share our rage, and to strategize about building a world without violence.

There is hope. Ninety-one percent of men would help a friend if they thought they were at risk of being abused.[7]

This year, to honour December 6th in Dawson, Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in Wellness and the Dawson Women’s Shelter have organized a drop in Remembrance event. Come by to share some tea and snacks, to celebrate the strengths of women in our community, for conversation with awesome folks, or to light a candle to remember a loved one.

What: December 6th Remembrance Event
Where: TH Wellness Lounge, 1233 2nd Avenue
Who: Everyone invited!

[1] Homicide in Canada, 2014, Statistics Canada, Table 6

[2] Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A National Operational Overview, 2014, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, p. 1.

[3] Confusion Reigns Over Number of Missing, murdered Indigenous Women, 2016, CBC News.

[4] Homicide in Canada, 2014, Statistics Canada, p.14

[5] 1 National Science Board, 2018. Science and Engineering Indicators 2018. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation

[6] National Science Board, 2018. Science and Engineering Indicators 2018. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation

[7] White Ribbon Campaign