On a blustery winter day, December 6th, the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Southport chapter held its 31st annual Vigil at Coulter Parkette in Port Elgin in remembrance of the 14 young women who were massacred at Ecole Polytechnique du Montreal by 25-year-old Marc Lepine in 1989.
Despite the cold, a sizeable crowd gathered to honour the young women.
Each year, the name and a brief history of each of the young women who were in the Engineering program and were killed is read aloud as their photos are shown in what has become a living memory for them.
Michelle Lamont of the Women’s House Serving Bruce and Grey spoke to the crowd that was in attendance and gave details of the numbers that the facility has served over the past year. “During the pandemic over the past year, we had a serious situation where those who were being abused were in a lockdown situation with their abusers and the numbers escalated. There are many forms of abuse – physical, economic, emotional, intimidation and holding children as ransom against leaving.”
During the pandemic lockdown, the shelter helped 541 women and 118 children, which was an increase of 20 per cent. With government cutbacks, the shelter relies on fundraising and donations to provide the services to women and children.
Also speaking on behalf of Indigenous women, Lori Kewaquom, who works with the Saugeen First Nation Advocacy for Healing, explained the family circle of care that existed within the First Nations peoples. “We have been a matriarchal society where women have been honoured and revered. From mothers to grandmothers, and grandfathers, they have been the caretakers of the children and who nurture and ensure the safety of those children. Now, however, that circle has been broken. It was broken when we were told that everything we did was wrong and when our children were taken away and removed from all their identity. We still feel the affects today. But today our youth are standing up and asking questions and want to make a change. We need to give them the tools so they can be the generation that makes that change. What the public has heard about residential schools, has heard nothing. The unmarked graves that have come out, we have been trying to tell the public about for years. We see the missing and murdered women and how our women are not honoured as women should be. We are working to bring that value back to the women so that they can have that pride to raise their children and so that those children can grow up and know who they are.”
Donations that were collected at the Vigil will be divided between the area’s three women’s shelters.
