News from the St. Catharines & District Council of Women
Just a few thoughts from Niagara At Large to begin here.
A monument in the Canada’s capital of Ottawa to abused and murdered women.
How tragic and totally reprehensible it is that we still have to have public meetings focusing on male brutes beating up and, in all too many cases, killing girls and women in this Canada we like to think is civil and civilized when it comes to such crimes. But apparently we do.
Unfortunately, and however much Canada’s supreme leader Stephen Harper tries shovelling Canadians this slp that his Tory government is tough on crime, that doesn’t apply as much to crimes committed against women – most particularly aboriginal women – but all women, including any and all women living in your neighbhourhod, and possibly even women in your own circle of relatives and friends.
According to a recent post by the Canadian Women’s Foundation, there remains in Harperland some quite disturbing statistics. They include:
- Half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence sincethe age of 16.1
- 67% of all Canadians say they personally know at least one woman who has been sexually or physically assaulted.2
- On average, every six days a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner. In 2011, In 2011, from the 89 police reported spousal homicides, 76 of the victims (over 85%) were women.3
- On any given day in Canada, more than 3,300 women (along with their 3,000 children) are forced to sleep in an emergency shelter to escape domestic violence. Every night, about 200 women are turned away because the shelters are full. 4
After more than a decade in power, Harper and company have done less to address the disproportionate rates of violence committed against women in Canada than they have to gut environmental protection regulations and promote pipes to ship tar sands goo for export to refinery facilities in other countries.
Remember that this federal election year in Canada!
Now here are the particulars from the Council of Women on the public meeting on violence against women to be held this January 8th, 2015 in Niagara.
PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday, January 8th, 2015, 8:00 p.m.
St. Catharines Centennial Library, 54 Church Street in downtown St. Catharines in Niagara, Ontario.
Violence Against Women !
How prevalent is violence against women here in Niagara? Who is most affected? What needs to be done to lower the rate of violence and empower women?
Panel :
Krystal Snyder – YWCA Niagara
Nyarai Kapisava – Tools for Empowerment & Success (TOES)
Roxanne Derhodge – Niagara Regional Sexual Assault Centre
Sponsored by the 20 Affiliated Member Groups & Individual Members of the St. Catharines and District Council of Women: Info.
Learn more about Violence Against Women in Canada by clicking on the following http://www.canadianwomen.org/facts-about-violence .
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Niagara At Large 