fbpx

Blog

December 6th Memorial Ceremony

November 17, 2020

On Sunday, December 6, Salt Spring islanders are invited to gather online at 5pm in memorial and solidarity of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada, hosted by The Circle Salt Spring Education Society and Islanders Working Against Violence (IWAV). Due to provincial COVID protocols, this year the memorial will be a Zoom event that will be livestreamed on IWAV’s Facebook page.

The day was established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada to commemorate the 14 young women who were murdered by a gunman on December 6, 1989, at l’École Polytechnique in Montreal as a deliberate act of violence against women.

Nearly 30 years have passed since the École Polytechnique massacre, and gender-based violence continues to be a real and horrific issue in the world, in Canada, and in our own community.

Gender-based violence is one of the most pervasive human rights issues today. According to the United Nations, “A third of all women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, half of women killed worldwide were killed by their partners or family, and violence perpetrated against women is as common a cause of death and incapacity for those of reproductive age, as cancer, and a greater cause of ill health than road accidents and malaria combined.”

December 6 is a time to reflect on gender-based violence in our society. It’s equally an opportunity to reflect on the light of the candles that will be lit and to join in community to renew our strength, honour the lives of women and hope for more inclusive and peaceful communities.

Guy Talk

One of the most important reasons why I work with youth around gender, stereotypes and healthy relationships, is that I get the opportunity to engage in complex and thought provoking conversations with young men.  Speaking of self- esteem, emotions, conflict...

Bridging The Distance

Jennifer Quam is the Mentor Supervisor for the Pass It On Project in Valemount/ McBride, British Columbia. McBride has a population of 710 while 90 kilometers away is Valemount, with a population of 1100. The school population for both communities hovers around 100...

It Is So Emotional To See These Girls Shine

The Pass It On Project - Phase II is occurring simultaneously in 5 communities throughout British Columbia - Salt Spring Island, Uclulet, Valemount/McBride, Prince George and Kamloops. Kamloops is in the Southern Interior of the province with a population of 85,000....

The Pass It On Project Goes on the Road in British Columbia

This winter, I had the privilege of traveling around British Columbia delivering workshops with rural girls and young women as part of Phase 2 of the Pass it On project. These workshops were originally written for youth here on Salt Spring Island and thanks to the...

Exciting News at SWOVA

We recently found out that the Department of Justice Canada is funding us to work in partnership with the Musqueam Indian Band.  As part of their Justice Partnership and Innovation Program - Access to Justice for Aboriginal Women, we will look at existing data from...

It’s Like Being Matched with Themself at That Age

As Pass It On Phase II is being implemented across the province, young middle school girls are meeting up with their high school mentors.  When asked to respond to 3 questions, 2 mentor supervisors from our most Northern communities involved in the project and 1 from...

Even Mentors Need Mentoring

What makes mentoring work for young women and girls? - having a supportive network. The 10 young female high school mentors on Salt Spring Island had their opportunity to test out their own expectations of what mentoring is this past week. Of the 10 mentors, half were...

R+R Program evaluated in International Journal

We're pretty proud of SWOVA’s R+R program and it turns out that we have reason to be.  Recently a review of the evaluation results for our program by Buote and Berglund, was published in the international Journal of Education, Citizenship and Social Justice.  The...

Name(Required)
Email(Required)
Please let us know what's on your mind. Have a question for us? Ask away.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.