UPEI recognizes the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
On December 6, the UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering (FSDE) held a candlelight vigil in recognition of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, which was created in response to the murder of 14 women, most of whom were engineering students, at the École Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989. The vigil was also an opportunity to remember the 10 women murdered on PEI since 1989 by someone who knew them, and murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in Canada.
Candles were lit by engineering students, staff, and faculty in memory of the women who died 34 years ago: 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.
After the candles were lit, Dr. Greg Keefe, interim president and vice-chancellor at UPEI, addressed the crowd gathered at the FSDE building, which included MC Dr. Wayne Peters, interim dean of the Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering (FSDE); Hon. Natalie Jameson, Minister of Education and Lifelong Learning and the Minister responsible for the Status of Women; Elder Doris Googoo; Marianne Perry and Jim Landrigan from Engineers PEI; Dr. Greg Naterer, vice-president academic and research; Dr. Ann Braithwaite, diversity and social justice studies program coordinator; Dr. Amy Hsiao, professor of engineering; and faculty, staff, students, and friends.
Keefe noted that while the National Day of Remembrance and Action was created to help end violence against women, it is disheartening to realize that over 30 years later, gender-based and sexualized violence is still very much present in communities and on university campuses around the world, including Canada, as is evidenced by the attack at the University of Waterloo earlier this year.
“But we can’t give up in continuing the crusade to eliminate it (gender-based and sexualized violence), for the sake of our daughters, partners, sisters, mothers, and 2SLGBTQ plus individuals,” said Keefe. “As recommended in the Rubin Thomlinson report, we need to continue to take strides in making our campus safer and more inclusive. This includes expanding the resources in our Sexual Violence, Prevention, and Response Office; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Office; Student Affairs; Human Resources; and Security Services. Ending gender-based violence is a tremendous challenge, but I am hopeful that by taking individual and collective preventative action, we will address it one action at a time.”
Braithwaite spoke about gender-based violence and how the December 6, 1989, mass murder affected her personally and professionally as she was a Master’s student at McGill University in Montreal at the time.
“On this day of action, I am buoyed, in my rage and grief, at what seem to be new levels of attention to this range of gender-based violence and at the kinds of connections that are being made between them. I am hopeful about the extending conversation and outraged about areas of the world too often overlooked ‘over here’ (and the growing awareness of why they are overlooked),” said Braithwaite. “I am mostly buoyed by the numbers of, and loudness of, so many women-identified people refusing silence, refusing acquiescence, insisting on claiming space to speak out about gender-based and other violences. I have to believe that this can make and is making a difference, and that grief and rage are not our only choices in the face of the immensity of the violences that continue to shape and dominate so many of our lives.”
Hsiao spoke about how women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) were specifically targeted on December 6, 1989. She referred to her involvement in Engineers Canada and how the organization adopted the 30 by 30 initiative in 2014, with the goal of increasing gender equity and the proportion of newly licensed female-identifying engineers to 30 per cent by the year 2030.
The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women candlelight vigil was part of the Purple Ribbon campaign, a collective show of support to end gender-based violence in which everyone is encouraged to wear purple and purple ribbons during the 16 Days of Activism from November 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to December 10 (International Human Rights Day).
“We heard clearly during our service that there is much work to be done to eliminate gendered and sexual violence,” said Peters, reflecting on the event. “Events like this should serve as calls to action and reminders of our obligations to take on this challenge. December 6 is always a poignant reminder for students, staff, and faculty in the FSDE to reflect and act on our commitments to a safer society for all. We were very pleased to be able to share this message with folks from both on and off campus at our event on Wednesday.”
