‘There are women experiencing hurt and abuse each day’

Gathering in Minto Park to mark 24th anniversary of Montreal massacre

It was nearly a quarter-century ago, but there are some things you can’t — and shouldn’t — forget. Friday night, a small crowd, perhaps 300, is expected to gather at the Ottawa Women’s Monument in Minto Park to remember the women shot to death in the Montreal massacre.

On Dec. 6, 1989, Marc Lépine walked into École Polytechnique and killed 14 young women. Every year since, as part of a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, Ottawans have been staging a vigil to remember the dead.

“We know there are women experiencing hurt and abuse each day,” Valerie Collicott, a spokeswoman for the Women’s Events Network, said Thursday.

As in past years, volunteers are expected to read aloud the names of the 14 women killed in 1989. Another group will read the names of women killed in the Ottawa area in the past year, which, according to Collicott, total eight.

Collicott noted that the Montreal massacre sparked outrage and, at the time, was a catalyst in changing legislation to make the ownership of guns more restrictive as well as a “harsh reminder” of the reality of violence against women. Today, she said, “our gun legislation has been diluted, aboriginal women are being murdered and forgotten, partner violence at over 80 per cent in Ottawa is still inflicted on women by men, and harassment and sexual violence is ever present in our community.”

She cited the case of Mark Hunt, who was convicted of murder earlier this year in the 2009 death of his wife, Donna Jones.

The case illustrates not only another example of “partner violence,” but also the need to do more to support women, she said.

“We need to support friends, families and our community in learning more about violence against women and how to make change and break the silence.”

The annual Dec. 6 vigils are one way of reaching out to women to give them the support they need to address the violence in their lives, Collicott said, adding that she’d like to see at least 300 turn out for the vigil.

“As a community, we will have a moment of reflection on the ultimate violence of not addressing or denying the existence of violence against women.”

Has anything changed in the past 24 years when it comes to violence against women?

“I don’t know,” said Collicott, pointing out that so much violence against women continues to go unreported, and too many, particularly young women, fail to recognize the signs of violence.

“They misinterpret the signs (of violence), thinking it’s love when it’s really about control.”