A Vigil will be held on December 6, 2015 at 12 p.m. in Coulter Park, Port Elgin to commemorate the 14 young women who were murdered on the same day in 1989 at the 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. It also is an annual day to reflect that today more than 70 percent of the victims of domestic homicide are women.

In just one year in Canada, 427,000 women over the age of 15 reported they had been sexually assaulted in Canada. Since only about 10 percent of all sexual assaults are reported to the police, the actual number is much higher. Every six days on average, a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner. In 2009, 67 women were murdered by a current or former spouse or boyfriend. On any given day in Canada, more than 3,000 women (along with their 2,500 children) are living in an emergency shelter to escape domestic violence. About 80 percent of sex trafficking victims in Canada are women and girls.

Please join us for this annual vigil to honour, reflect and renew our commitment to act.

Submitted on behalf of the Canadian Federation of University Women, a non partisan group active in public affairs, working to raise the social, economic and legal status of women and girls and to improve education, the environment, peace, justice and human rights.