Approximately 40 people came together in Coulter Parkette on December 6, 2015 for CFUW's 26th Vigil in memory of the victims of the l’École Polytechnique shooting.

“Because women are women.”

On December 6, 1989, 14 female engineering students at l’École Polytechnique in Montreal were gunned down - because they were women.

From a Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Southport media release, in September, 2016, the federal inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) acknowledged that between 1,200 and 4,000 Indigenous women are missing or have been murdered since 2000.

In October, 2016, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) released a report on family violence which included the following statistics: Police reports showed that there were over 85,000 victims of family violence in Canada (2014 - most recent data). When dating violence is included, this number increases to 133,920 - approximately 96,000 of these victims were women and almost 20,000 were under the age of 20 years.

In the past few months, there have been numerous reports of sexual assault on women by male celebrities and we have seen misogyny become a political tool in the recent United States election.

Gender-based violence continues to be one of the most troubling social issues we face. Why does it happen?

The United Nations through the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women as well as the World Health Organization state that violence against women is a major global public health problem and human rights violation and the key risk factor is gender - because women are women.

On Tuesday, December 6, CFUW Southport asks you to join them for their 27th Vigil to remember the young victims of gender-based violence in 1989. The Vigil will be held at Coulter Park in Port Elgin at noon.

With your presence, CFUW asks that you show that we stand with women and girls who are experiencing violence today and by standing together we are saying that violence against women will not be tolerated.