December 6, 2018 - On December 6, 1989, 14 women at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal were murdered simply because they were born women.

The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women is a day to acknowledge that 29 years after the massacre, women remain targets and continue to endure violence because of their gender. What happened in 1989 is not past history: on average, in Canada, a woman is killed every six days by her partner.

“In the labour movement, we have a saying: ‘Mourn, then organize’,” said Marty Warren, USW District 6 Director. “This saying is very relevant as we mark December 6. We need to express our grief and sadness at the needless deaths. And then we need to act, to stop the death toll from growing.”

Simple daily actions can save lives 

Today, USW Local 1944 invites our members to reflect on how violence affects women in our country. This might feel like a distant problem to some of us, and yet, it affects us all, because violence committed against a woman is violence committed against a family, a community, and a workplace. We can all take concrete action to eliminate gender-based violence.

“Hear a buddy tell a joke that degrades women? Refuse to laugh and say, ‘That’s not cool.’ See a Facebook post that degrades women? Refuse to share or like it, and post a reply, ‘I don’t agree with that.’ Small actions can have a huge impact. Many small actions together can change our culture, and save lives,” said Ken Neumann, USW National Director for Canada.

In Solidarity, 

USW Local 1944