NAIT staff, students and community members gathered in CAT Crossing on Friday to commemorate the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Dec. 6.
Remarks were shared by several speakers, including NAIT’s CEO and President Laura Jo Gunter and Lilly Houcher, NAITSA’s President.
The polytechnic holds an annual vigil to honour the 14 female students who were murdered on this day at Montréal’s École Polytechnique in 1989.
“I want to set the stage for what this day might have looked like,” Houcher said to the crowd. She described students feeling excited for the holidays, knowing a break is coming up. “But by the end of this day, the Polytechnic will become a site of unimaginable violence and tragedy.”
The femicide remains one of the deadliest mass shootings in the country.
“It would shatter women’s sense of safety and ultimately expose a truth about the pervasive and insidious presence of gender-based violence,” said Houcher.
“These women were pursuing careers in a male-dominated field. They had dreams, they were ambitious, they were full of life and then they were gone.” Before a moment of silence, she listed the names of 14 women:
Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz.
Behind the stage, a display of 14 chairs with the women’s photographs were arranged in a circle. Each chair displayed text and items illustrating who each student was, what she liked and what her aspirations were.
“The installation’s purpose is to visually demonstrate the absence of 14 women’s lives by representing them as more than static photos caught in time,” read the installation.
It’s a powerful and meaningful display that Natasha Pinterics, Community and Belonging Specialist at NAIT, researches and adds to each year.
“I wanted to know more about who the women were,” Pinterics told the Nugget. She was a teenager when news broke that 14 women were killed, and she remembers the moment she found out. “I wanted a way to incorporate that, while still being very clear about the seriousness of the fact that these women were murdered because they were women.”
Gunter was also a young woman when the anti-feminist attack happened.
“I was in my 20s in 1989, and we were of that generation of women that were told that we could be anything we wanted, do anything we wanted and that we would be safe doing so,” said NAIT’s President.
“This day continues to carry profound meaning for me as a woman leading a polytechnic institution.”
Last year, NAIT launched the This Matters campaign to address gender-based and sexual violence (GBSV) on campus.
The campaign highlights how gender-based and sexual violence should matter to everyone, including those who aren’t women.
“I’m aware that I move through the world with a level of safety and privilege that many people, including those most impacted by gender-based violence, are not afforded,” said NAIT VP Administration and CFO Mike High.
He addressed other men in the room directly:
“We have an essential role to play in ending gender-based violence … let’s all choose to be the kind of men who make our community safer, who model respect and who help create a world where everyone can live, work and learn without fear.”
YWCA Edmonton has also called upon men to be part of a solution. Last week, the non-profit released a video for their Rose Campaign showing prominent male figures like Mayor Andrew Knack and Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch addressing gender-based violence.
“If we don’t have men coming to the table to help in that work, we’re never going to get there, we’re never going to get past something like that,” Christine McCourt-Reid, YWCA Edmonton Interim CEO, told the Nugget.
According to data from the Government of Canada, in 2019, almost one in seven female post-secondary students were sexually assaulted in a campus setting. Between 2011 and 2021, 93 per cent of gender-based homicides were committed by men. In her speech, McCourt-Reid mentioned some of these statistics.
“We know statistically most victims of gender-based violence are women and gender-diverse individuals. We also know statistically that most of the perpetrators are men. This is not saying all men are bad, but the actions of some men are causing great harm in our community and we need to change that,” she said.
Students can learn more about how NAIT is addressing GBSV by visiting nait.ca/gbsv. NAIT students who are experiencing gender-based and sexual violence are encouraged to get help by contacting NAIT’s GBSV specialist at gbsv@nait.ca or by visiting the Centre for Community and Belonging. Both can assist students with finding resources on and off campus. To disclose an anonymous report, students can visit reescommunity.com/campus. For emergencies and acts of violence in progress, call 911.
