YWCA Thompson will be hosting a community exhibit in honour of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women at the Vale Regional Community Centre Dec. 6, in partnership with the University of Manitoba northern social work program and the Thompson Crisis Centre, from noon to 7 p.m.
YWCA women’s program co-ordinator Nina Cordell notes that the exhibit is an intersection of two complementary campaigns, the REDress project, and the Red Rose campaign. As part of REDress, family and loved ones write the names of missing and murdered women on red dresses, which are hung as a reminder of their absence.
“The REDress will be an opportunity for people to honour and remember the women that they have lost in their lives. We’ll have a wall of remembrance, where they can write their names on a dress, and we’ll pin it on their wall.”
Newly adopted by the YWCA this year is the Red Rose campaign, which pairs the dresses with flowers. On the flowers, friends and family write what they believe are meaningful ways to address violence and abuse against indigenous women in Manitoba.
“We wanted to incorporate a way of honouring the living, those who have to live without their loved ones,” Cordell explained. “We want to hear back from the community: how do you think we should take action? Maybe there are programs that we can offer, coming out of the suggestions.”
The YWCA will also be reintroducing the Red Cloth campaign, where red cloths tied on trees around Thompson are accompanied by the stories of missing and murdered women. Cordell encourages individuals who want to participate to hang their own red cloths in solidarity.
National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women was created in memory of the Montreal Massacre in 1989, when 14 women were murdered in an act of violence that was explicitly gender-motivated. “The shooter was clear that he didn’t think women had a place in engineering,” noted Cordell, “and he wanted to make sure that they didn’t.”
