AMHERST, N.S. — The executive director of Autumn House in Amherst believes the need to remember remains strong 30 years after the Montreal Massacre.
Dawn Ferris said the murder of 14 woman at a Montreal engineering school in December 1989 has been a turning point in the struggle to end violence against women, but that abuse will continue until society stands up and says no more.
“I want to say we’re getting there because we have more awareness with the subject, but in reality, I don’t think we’ve made much change,” Ferris said. “We still continue to see the rise of angry men, most of them angry white men, who are violent toward women.”
While on the one hand, Ferris said, society wants to believe it has made significant gains in 30 years, the reality is the violence has not diminished and to some men feminism is still a negative word when it shouldn’t be.
“We have to eliminate toxic masculinity and have discussions about what feminism really means to people. It’s not a bad F word, it’s a word that simply means equality for both. I hate to sayit, but until men begin owning the feminist language, mantle and put on that cloak and say ‘I’m a feminist too’ we may never get there,” she said.
On Friday, Dec. 6, representatives from Autumn House, Cumberland County’s women’s shelter, will join with members of the interagency on family violence to host the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women at the Community Credit Union Business Innovation Centre on Ratchford Street from 12 to 1 p.m.
There will be a light lunch with Millbrook Healing Centre executive director Bev Walker serving as guest speaker for the annual event that will this year recognize the 30th anniversary of the shootings at École Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989.
“It’s a day of remembrance and an opportunity for us to reaffirm our call to action to ending violence against women across this country,” Ferris said. “This year is the 30th anniversary of the murders of those 14 women and we will read their names out, but we will also talk about how in this country, still on a daily basis, women, girls and the LGBTQ+ community continue to have a higher rate of violence.”
Ferris said it will also be the first Dec. 6 vigil since the release Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Report on the high number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the country. Statistically, she said, Indigenous women and girls are murdered and go missing at a much higher rate than others in Canada.
For those attending the vigil, Ferris hopes they leave with a willingness to do something, or stand up, if they see abuse or hear the use of derogatory comments about women or others in the community.
“Don’t be afraid if something inappropriate is said to stand up and say that. We need to own our own little parts of making change,” she said. “We can’t do it on our own, it’s going to take everyone doing their own little part.”
Ferris said education is important as is messaging. A campaign to bring educational awareness to the use of derogatory terms is something that’s needed not only in the education system but in the community as well.
Also, while Dec. 6 is the focal point of 16 days of action the period of remembrance and advocacy should be a 12-month affair since gender-based violence happens year-round. On average, she said, a woman is killed every six days by her intimate partner while in 2018 alone, a woman or girl was killed every 2.5 days.
And, while the need is there, Ferris said agencies that help abused women, such as Autumn House, continue to be underfunded and overcrowded
“We’re bulging at the seams,” she said. “We have been in an overflow situation since the beginning of June.”
