Waterloo's Montreal massacre vigil emcee says 'misogyny has not gone away' and more can be done
CBC
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
“The issue of violence, violence against women — has not gone away,” Walker told CBC’s The Morning Edition host, Craig Norris.
“The misogyny has not gone away. Intimate partner violence has not gone away so we need to keep this in people’s vision.”
On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 women, including engineering students, a nursing student and a staff member, were killed in a shooting rampage at Montreal's École Polytechnique by a gunman who shouted: "I hate feminists."
Waterloo's vigil is being held Saturday at the Cedars Worship Centre on the 36th anniversary of the attack. It also marks National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
“It’s a time to remember the 14 women,” says Walker. “So we will be naming them all. And I think this is an important part of it: is the actual naming of the women. To remember that they’re individuals. It’s so easy just to have a statistic.”
“They had families and friends. They were at least daughters and some may have been mothers, sisters, cousins.”
Every year, 102 women are murdered in gender-based violence in this country, according to Statistics Canada, and in 2023, the Region of Waterloo named intimate partner violence as an epidemic.
Walker feels a connection to the tragic event in Montreal because she graduated from Concordia in mechanical engineering a few years before.
“That could’ve been me,” says Walker, who is now a priest at Kitchener's St. Andrew's Memorial Anglican Church.
Walker would like to see more men join in the conversation around intimate partner violence — she sees it as a missing piece in the dialogue.
“I think part of this is it’s become a women’s conversation,” she says. “Or an LGBTQ conversation but not bringing the men in because, unfortunately, the largest majority of women injured or killed in intimate partner violence are by men.”
Saturday’s event in Waterloo is a collaboration between YWCA Kitchener-Waterloo, Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, Women's Crisis Services of Waterloo Region and Canadian Federation of University Women, Kitchener-Waterloo.
“As women-led organizations, we stand together to commemorate this day and reignite a powerful movement to speak out against gender-based violence,” the collective said in a statement. “We remember, we grieve, and we call for action.”
A Calgary dentist who defrauded five insurance companies over a decade should spend up to three years in prison, the prosecution argued Friday.
B.C. Conservation Officer Service says it has called off its search for a bear responsible for an attack on a group of school children in Bella Coola, B.C. on Nov. 20.
The union president called it a rally for solidarity as Iqaluit Housing Authority employees gathered Friday while negotiations are ongoing between the Nunavut Employees Union and the employer.
The federal government is stoking Quebec separatism by walking back its climate commitments — including in its recent deal with Alberta — Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault says.
Four more Alberta MLAs are facing recall petitions organized by their constituents, including the first NDP representative to be caught in the province's ongoing wave of recall efforts.
Frank Gehry, the Canadian-born renegade architect behind some of the world's most recognizable buildings, has died at 96.
Hundreds of P.E.I. parents can't find child-care spaces, especially for infants. The provincial government says expanding those spots remains a top priority — and it recognizes the concern.
An Alberta judge says a referendum proposal on Alberta separating from Canada goes against Charter and and Treaty rights, in a decision given less than 24 hours after the provincial government introduced legislation that would have ended the court proceeding.
The architect of Alberta's politician recall legislation says it was never meant to be used as a political weapon, but as an "ultimate tool of accountability" if a politician engages in illegal or unethical behaviour.
The Government of Saskatchewan has introduced its long-promised involuntary treatment legislation on the final day of the fall sitting.
The Law Society of Ontario has suspended the licence of Deepak Paradkar, one of seven Canadians arrested in connection with alleged drug lord Ryan Wedding’s cocaine smuggling ring.
London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is getting rid of unlimited mental health benefits for staff, blaming ballooning costs and former administrators for implementing it without proper due diligence or oversight.
Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's TV and film studios and streaming division for $72 billion US, a deal that would hand control of one of Hollywood's most prized and oldest assets to the streaming pioneer that has upended the media industry.