The Circle Women’s Centre at Brescia University College invites the community to attend a Ritual of Re-Membering in the Brescia Auditorium on Monday, Dec. 6 at noon.
UPDATE: The Ritual of Re-Membering at Brescia University College scheduled for noon today, and the Montreal Massacre Commemoration, organized by the Women’s Events Committee, that was to take place in Victoria Park at 5:30 p.m. today, have both been cancelled due to inclement weather and will not be rescheduled.
Monday marks the 21st anniversary of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. Established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada, this day commemorates the deaths of 14 young women who were tragically murdered in 1989 by a young man enraged by the number of women enrolled in the School of Engineering, whom he perceived to be threatening his admittance at École Polytechnique in Montreal.
This year’s guest speaker is Megan Walker, Executive Director of the London Abused Women’s Centre (LAWC). The Circle also works in collaboration with LAWC to display the Silent Witnesses, an international initiative with local focus that displays free-standing, life-sized red wooden figures, each one bearing the name of a woman who once lived, worked, had neighbors, friends, family, or children – whose life ended violently at the hands of a husband, ex-husband, partner, or acquaintance.
The Ritual of Re-Membering moves through our grief and sadness into hope and power for transformation and change. Admission and parking are free. Learn more about The Circle.
Western Engineering remembers lives lost in Montreal
Engineering faculty, staff and students from The University of Western Ontario host an annual memorial service to remember the deaths of these students, as well as Lynda Shaw, a 21-year-old Western Engineering student who was murdered in 1990 while returning to Western after a holiday weekend with her family near Brampton, Ontario.
This year’s ceremony is scheduled for Monday, December 6 at 10:30 a.m. in Room 3109, Spencer Engineering Building. The event will include comments from Western’s Women in Engineering Group, a candle lighting ceremony, and an address by guest speaker Valérie Hould-Marchand, a Canadian RBC Olympian in synchronized swimming.
Hould-Marchand, born in Rivière-du-Loup, Québec, won a silver medal as a member of the Canadian Synchronized Swimming Team at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, where she was the youngest member of the Canadian delegation.
At the memorial service, Hould-Marchand will discuss her personal journey to success and overcoming adversity.
White Ribbon Campaign
Western’s Women in Engineering student group and the Undergraduate Engineering Society are collaborating with Western’s University Student Council (USC), running additional events in the UCC Atrium and participating in the White Ribbon Campaign (WRC). WRC is the largest effort in the world of men working to end violence against women. In more than 55 countries, campaigns are led by both men and women, even though the focus is on educating men and boys. In some countries, it is a general public education effort focused on ending violence against women. Wearing a white ribbon is a personal pledge to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women and girls. WRC in Canada runs its campaign until Dec. 6, Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.