Virtual service of remembrance

Sydney women's centre moves online for annual event

“Because of (quarantine) we have had an increase in the number of women (accessing our services).” Wanda Earhart

SYDNEY — More than three decades ago a man shot and killed 14 women at l'école polytechnique de Montréal because he was "fighting feminism."

Since then, organizations like the Every Woman's Centre in Sydney have been holding remembrance services in honour of the women who died that day in 1989 and in Cape Breton, the women who have lost their lives to intimate partner violence.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the centre will offer a virtual service through its Facebook page this year.

Started by the late Hazel Latimer, a retired teacher, the 2020 service was prerecorded by Crew Productions and will include candles being lit in memory of victims.

The event will be live on the Every Woman's Centre's Facebook page on Sunday, Dec. 6, the anniversary of the Montreal massacre.

Wanda Earhart, who took over from Latimer, has been organizing the service for more than 15 years. She said they might put the service up a day or two earlier.

"This way people can watch it over the weekend at their leisure. This is an important issue not just here in Cape Breton but also across the country," she said. "As long as we are going, we will be doing this. It is important, especially to the young people who are too young to remember what happened that day."

It has been widely reported that violence within the home increases with crises situations like a global pandemic and Earhart has seen evidence of this through her work at the Every Woman's Centre.

"Absolutely, I've heard the stories about the fact people are confined and frustrated with quarantine," Earhart said. "Because of this we have had an increase in the number of women (accessing our services)."

During the 16 weeks the centre was closed as part of the provincial spring lockdown, Earhart said they offered a doorstep service as well as communicating remotely with women needing help.

"We spent a fair amount of time online and on the phone with people ... because we needed to be available for people to reach us when they needed to."

Yearly, the in-person services have packed the Every Woman's Centre and Earhart hopes they can grow that number this year since there's no building capacity online.

Last year's remembrance service in Sydney, held in memory of women who've lost their lives due to domestic violence and the 14 women who were killed at l'école polytechnique de Montréal in 1989.