UPEI marks the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women

The following statement was issued to the UPEI campus community by Dr. Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, President and Vice-Chancellor, in observance of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women.

Today, December 6, is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women in Canada.

Established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada, the day marks the anniversary of the murders in 1989 of 14 young women at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal: Geneviève Bergeron, Helene Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte.

As well as commemorating these young women whose lives ended twenty-seven years ago in an act of gender-based violence, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women represents an opportunity for our University community and for all Canadians to reflect on the phenomenon of violence against women in our society. It is also a time to consider the women and girls for whom violence is a daily reality, and to remember those who have died as a result of it.

Earlier today, UPEI’s Director of Student Affairs Treena Smith addressed those gathered at the annual Montreal Massacre Memorial Service about the “Bringing in the Bystander” program, a bystander intervention workshop that uses a community responsibility approach. How appropriate, as while today is about remembering, it is also a day for communities to come together to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and to challenge the culture that allows it to thrive.

UPEI will also observe the day by lowering the flags in front of Kelley Memorial Building to half-mast.