Iqaluit march calls for end to gender-based violence
Around 50 people showed out for the annual event
People march Wednesday in Iqaluit, calling for an end to gender-based violence. The event marked the Dec. 6 National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Approximately 50 people marched in Iqaluit Wednesday night for the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
Afterward at a gathering inside Nunavut Arctic College there was a qulliq lighting, performances, speeches and a moment of silence.
Among the attendees were elected representatives, RCMP and representatives from Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada. There were also representatives from the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council present.
“Let’s continue to work together to ensure a safer and more secure future for Inuit women, girls and gender-diverse Inuit, wherever they live in Canada,” said former Iqaluit mayor and MLA Elisapee Sheutiapik, who represents Iqaluit on Pauktuutit’s board.
Sheutiapik said her family has been impacted by gender-based violence. She called for more resources such as better mental health supports and education, to address the root causes of violence.
Marked annually on Dec. 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women commemorates women’s lives lost to violence on the anniversary of the 1989 mass shooting at École Polytechnique in Montreal.
That tragedy, in which a lone gunman killed 14 women and injured 14 other people, is considered one of the most notorious gender-based acts of violence in Canadian history.
“Gender based” violence?
If we want to quibble, the violence is sex based and was well encapsulated by the expression “violence against women”.
Please stop the erasure of women in policy discourse.