National Day of Remembrance & Action on Violence Against Women

December 6 marks the anniversary of the massacre at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal (December 6, 1989) that saw the promising lives of 14 young women cut violently short. This senseless act of targeted violence shook our country and led Parliament to designate December 6 as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women.

Each year on December 6, we remember the 14 women who lost their lives while studying to become engineers, along with the countless other women and girls who lost their lives as a result of male violence.

As we come together to commemorate this national tragedy, we also reflect on the troubling fact that for women, girls – and in particular, Indigenous women and girls –  and LGBTQ2 individuals here in the Comox Valley and across our country, violence continues to be a daily reality. The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women is about honouring those who have experienced gender-based violence; it is also a time to take action.