NDP Statement on the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

Leader of Canada’s NDP Jagmeet Singh issued the following statement

“Thirty three years ago, the country was shaken by the Ecole Polytechnique Massacre—an act of femicide that will never be forgotten.

Today, we pay tribute to the women who were murdered on December 6, 1989: Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne‑Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne‑Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St‑Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz.

They were killed because they were women.

Gun violence and all forms of misogyny have no place in our society. We all have a role to play in calling out harmful attitudes and actions whenever we encounter them.

Unfortunately, in Canada, women still disproportionately experience violence.  Four in ten women have lived through some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetimes. It shouldn’t be this way. Women and girls deserve to feel safe in their homes and communities.

The problem is even more dire for Indigenous women and girls who are 12 times more likely to be murdered or missing than any other women in Canada. We bear witness to an ongoing genocide against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in this country. Urgent action is needed. We must do everything in our power to end gender-based violence in Canada.

There is much more that the federal government could be doing to address these systemic issues and help keep women safe. Starting with real, meaningful action to address gun violence, stable, predictable funding for shelters and organizations who help women fleeing violence and the Liberal Government must act with the urgency necessary to stop the genocide against Indigenous women and girls now.

In the cherished memory of those who were taken from their loved ones, New Democrats renew our efforts to end gender-based violence once and for all.”