December 6th National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada

Every year on December 6th, women and men and families gather across the country to commemorate the 14 young women who were murdered by a gunman chanting “I hate feminists” on December 6, 1989 at École Polytechnique in Montreal.

In 1991 the Parliament of Canada established the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada as an annual day of mourning and remembrance for those 14 young women and all the other victims of gender based violence.

The statistics are horrifying:

  • Half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16.
  • Approximately every six days, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner. Out of the 83 police-reported intimate partner homicides in 2014, 67 of the victims—over 80%—were women.
  • On any given night in Canada, 3,491 women and their 2,724 children sleep in shelters because it isn’t safe at home.
  • On any given night, about 300 women and children are turned away because shelters are already full.
  • There were 1,181 cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada between 1980 and 2012, according to the RCMP.  However, according to grassroots organizations and the Minister of the Status of Women the number is much higher, closer to 4,000.
  • Aboriginal women are killed at six times the rate of non-aboriginal women.

CUPE Alberta is committed to recognizing and combatting gender based violence in all its forms. We ask you to do what you can as well.

Cyber violence, which includes online threats, harassment, and stalking, has emerged as an extension of violence against women. Young women are most likely to experience online harassment in its most severe forms, including stalking, sexual harassment and physical threats.