Dec. 6 was a solemn day across Canada as people gathered to remember the 14 women killed in the Montreal Massacre, which took place at the École Polytechnique in 1989.
The USW Local 6166 women's committee held a candle-lit vigil at the union hall where men and women gathered to hear about the massacre, light candles and honour the women who were killed by Marc Lépine, a 25-year-old man who claimed he was fighting feminism.
Leslie Tucker, executive director of the Thompson Crisis Centre, said violence against women, and especially domestic violence, is still a big problem in the world today.
"Statistically it's not getting any better I am pretty sure that it's always been a serious issue, but it's been a private issue. The more we progress, the more we make it a public issue, then, of course, there will be more statistics," she said.
And bringing the issue of domestic violence out into the public is what Tucker said she'd like to see happen, so women will not feel ashamed to have gone through it and can seek further healing.
"Isolation is such a big part of domestic violence, and privacy - it's secret, it's private, it's not out in the public. People do not like to come out and say 'I was' or 'I am' being abused because it's hard and it's painful," she says. "We've got to get past that and help women understand, and help people understand that it isn't just them, and to share their experiences with other people."
Tucker says the crisis centre has a follow-up transition program that women go through that provides them with ongoing counselling to help them deal with what they went through. There is also a life skills program that helps to empower women who have suffered from domestic violence and information about substance abuse, alcohol addictions, emotional and physical health and parenting. She says there is also counseling available for children at the shelter to help them work through their feelings and their experience of domestic violence. The shelter will also be holding monthly smudging ceremonies for women and children who would like to take part in that form of aboriginal healing.
Tucker says that one way to make sure knowledge of domestic violence is out in the public is to do public education and outreach. The crisis centre has an outreach worker who goes into elementary schools in Thompson and R. D. Parker Collegiate to talk to kids about domestic violence and make them aware of how unhealthy relationships can start at a very young age.
Statistically, Tucker says that during the holiday season less women enter the shelter, but said she cannot speculate whether that is because less domestic violence takes place during December or because it is less reported.
