December 6 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women

The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women, which takes place every year on December 6, marks the anniversary of the murders of 14 young women at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal in 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.

Established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada, this day is about remembering those who have experienced gender-based violence and those who we have lost to it, listening to survivors, and speaking up against harmful behaviour.

UPEI will observe the day by lowering the flags in front of Kelley Memorial Building and at UPEI Alumni Canada Games Place to half-mast.

December 6 also falls within the UN’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (November 25–December 10) and the PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women’s Purple Ribbon Campaign. The campaign’s 2021–2022 theme is “Reimagining Safety: self * relationships * world.” Everyone is encouraged to wear their purple ribbons to raise awareness about violence against women and children here on PEI, across Canada, and around the world while imagining what true safety for all people, of all genders, can look like.

Again this year due to COVID-19, the Advisory Council will host its annual Montreal Massacre Memorial Service—that honours the lives of women that have been lost to violence, and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls—for the general public in a livestream event. The service will be broadcast on Facebook at 12 noon on Monday, December 6: facebook.com/peistatusofwomen