Statement from Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath on National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

TORONTO — Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath issued the following statement marking the 29th anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre, and the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women:

“Today marks the 29th anniversary of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre. In Ontario and across the country, we mourn the horrific slayings of 14 women, killed in a hateful act of violence, simply for being women.

We remember the 14 lives that were cut short, senselessly, and pay tribute to their individual memories. We remember their names: Geneviève Bergeron, Helene Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, and Annie Turcotte.

In mourning the loss of these 14 women, we recommit ourselves to fighting the insidious violence that disproportionately affects women and girls in this province, this country, and across the globe. We acknowledge that racialized women and girls are particularly vulnerable to violence, and that, as shown by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, there continues to be a heartbreaking number of missing, taken and murdered Indigenous women.

En Ontario, nous sommes à côté de tous les Québécois et de toutes les Québécoises, de tous les Canadiens et de toutes les Canadiennes qui, aujourd'hui, se souviennent et commémorent ensemble.

We know that one-third of women around the world experience some form of violence, often at the hand of someone they know, and that half of all women who are murdered are killed in an act of intimate partner violence.

Ontario’s New Democrats are committed to fighting for a society where all women and girls are protected from violence, and we envision a society where social supports exist, and are accessible, for women and girls across Ontario.”