Wearing red high heeled shoes and carrying signs, men walked a mile in downtown Port Elgin to raise awareness about gender based violence and sexual assault at the annual Women’s House Serving Bruce and Grey fundraiser.

Hub Staff

Raising a total of $19,117, approximately 50 men stepped up and proved they really were ‘man enough’ as they donned a pair of red high heeled shoes and walked a mile around downtown Port Elgin to take a stand against violence against women at the Women’s House Serving Bruce and Grey’s (WHSBG) annual fundraising event May 28.

Walk a Mile kicked off at The Queen’s Bar and Grill, where the event has taken place for four out of the five years it’s been held in Grey and Bruce counties. The Queen’s donates food as well as a venue, from which registrants gather to pause for photo ops, don their heels and collect a t-shirts which this year asked, “Are you man enough?”

Led by the WHSBG banner, carried by Lori Harding and Sher Brown; and pipers John Farrell and Nathan Smith of the Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band, walkers walked, and in some cases hobbled, up and down Goderich Street carrying signs promoting an end to gender based violence and sexual assault.

“There's a lot of issues in our society, in our town, that are hidden,” said Pier Donnini, owner of The Queen’s. “What they need are the light of day shone on them because more information is always better than less information. This day gives us more information and shines some light.”

WHSBG’s Board Chair Lori Harding said the event is about increasing the understanding that abuse is not acceptable in any form. “It could be your mother or your sister, a friend, co-worker or your daughter,” she said. “It’s not just a women's issue, it's a social issue.”

2017 marks WHSBG's 31st year of helping women and children escape violence. “Last year alone we had 596 women come through our shelter and almost 200 children,” said Harding. “The numbers are quite staggering. You would think in a small community that it doesn't happen very often but it does." She added that when the organization marked its 30th year, they had received a total of 45,000 crisis calls and had had 15,000 women come through the shelter.

Vice President of Bruce Power’s Bruce B Paul Clarke said it was sad that in our society we needed an organization like the Women's House but through recent research he had learned some “pretty damming” statistics. “Fifty-one percent of Canadian women at some point in their life, so that’s over half, will suffer from either physical or sexual abuse,” he said.

The figure comes from a 1993 Statistics Canada survey which looked at women in Canada over the age of 18.

Clark went on to note the number of women and children who seek shelter every day in Canada. As part of a later study, Statistics Canada used a snapshot date of April 16, 2014 and found that 3,491 women and 2,742 children were in a shelter in Canada as a result of abuse.

Clark said there were three components to the Women’s House Walk a Mile event. In addition to raising funds for a “much needed charity” and raising awareness, he said, “There may be somebody out there today that sees our walk that wasn't aware of the Women's House shelter and it makes them aware that they've got that safe haven to turn to.”

Chris Turcotte, who has participated in the event for each of the past five years, suggested making it a 'bring a friend' event. “It’s great that we raise funds for the support and everything like that but if we can get awareness, if we can get a huge group of guys, make this an eyesore...people are going to see it, they're going to jump on our bandwagon and our cause and they're going to support us as well,” he said.

Dave Trumble of the Grey Bruce Labour Council said his group was participating for the second year. “It's near and dear to our heart and near and dear to the Labour's heart for a lot of years,” he said.

Following the march, organizers awarded top pledge earners with Bruce B taking home the top team prize and Chris Turcotte the top individual prize.

Holding a Women's House Serving Bruce and Grey banner, Board Member Sher Brown (left) and Board Chair Lori Harding led the parade down Goderich Street in Port Elgin.

Saugeen Shores Police Service Officer Michael Cuillerier stopped traffic for fellow walkers to cross Goderich Street in Port Elgin.

On the left, each registrant received a t-shirt that asked, “Are you man enough?” On the right, pipers John Farell, left, and Nathan Smith from the Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band helped bring more attention to the Women’s House fundraiser.

Giving their heels centre stage, Saugeen Shores Police Services’s (left to right) Paul Vitez, Michael Cuillerier and Terry Varga were ready to walk a mile.

On the left, Ghassan Dardona was walking with his wife Hadeel and 8 month old Salim. On the right, Robert Ayres, ready to walk with Shoshanna Fraizinger, showed off his red heels.

Workers from Bruce Power’s Bruce A donned their heels and were ready to take to the streets of Port Elgin May 28.

For the second year in a row Grey Bruce Labour Council's (left to right) Kevin Smith, Jeff Cronin, Dave Trumble and Zack Cronin were ready to walk a mile.

Approximately 50 men donned heels and raised funds and awareness at the Women’s House Serving Bruce and Grey’s annual Walk a Mile event.