With pandemic restrictions in place, the McMaster community will commemorate December 6, the annual National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, a little differently this year.

The December 6 Planning Committee has released four videos to provide an opportunity to pause, reflect and commemorate victims and survivors of gender-based violence.

The videos honour those in the McMaster community who were and are impacted by gender-based violence, the women who were killed at École Polytechnique de Montréal in 1989, Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, and those who are affected by the intersection of anti-Black racism and gender-based violence:

• “An Enduring Memorial:” Remembering and Resisting Gender-Based Violence at McMaster
• “That Broke My Heart:” Remembering the Montréal Massacre
• “Our Loved Ones Are Not Forgotten:” Remembering Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women from Six Nations
• Black Lives Matter: Remembering those Impacted by Anti-Black Racism and Gender-Based Violence

“We acknowledge, reflect upon and take actions around the devastating loss of life as a consequence of historic and present-day violence against women,” says McMaster Chancellor Santee Smith in an introductory video. “We honour the lost lives of our daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmothers, friends and feminine bodies in spirit. Today is a call to action. How do we build solidarity within and across genders to end the violence?”

This year’s interactive Men’s Walk in commemoration of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women is available virtually on Google Earth.

For more information or to get involved, email the December 6 Planning Committee at Dec6McMaster@gmail.com.