Events at McMaster: Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women
In previous years, red dresses have been placed at various locations around campus on Dec. 6 as part of the REDress Project, a national campaign to remember murdered and missing Indigenous women.
On the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women, the Dec. 6 committee at McMaster is holding a virtual round table discussion exploring the impact of the pandemic on gender-based violence.
Across Canada, Dec. 6 is observed as a day of mourning and remembrance of not only the victims of 1989 Montreal massacre, when a gunman killed 14 female engineering students at Ecole Polytechnique, but also the thousands of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, members of the McMaster community and those around the world who have been harmed by gender-based violence.
The round table will be held from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Panellists are:
- Jessica Bonilla-Damptey
Director of the Sexual Assault Centre of Hamilton and Area (SACHA)
Bonilla-Damptey is a Latinx/Indigenous woman from El Salvador, living and raised in Hamilton. A graduate of the School of Social Work, Indigenous Studies and Health Studies Programs at McMaster, she committed to and works to creating a world without violence and oppression. - Neha Shah
Director, McMaster Women and Gender Equity Network (WGEN)
Shah, a fourth year student in the undergraduate Health Sciences program, leads the McMaster Students Union’s peer support service for women, trans, and non-binary folks, and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. - Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah
Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity (CCGSD)
Owusu-Akyeeah is an award-winning Black feminist with over eight years of local and international advocacy experience through feminist initiatives in the Ottawa-Gatineau region and through working at Oxfam Canada and Global Affairs Canada. The Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity promotes diversity in gender identity, gender expression, and romantic/sexual orientation in all its forms on a national level through services in the areas of education and advocacy. - Sandra Montour
Executive Director, Ganohkwasra Family Assault Support Services
Montour is also the President of the Aboriginal Shelters of Ontario. Ganohkwasra Family Assault Support Services, an organization located on Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, provides shelter, counselling, and other support for women, men, youth, children, seeking safety from violence.
Click here for information or to register.
Mens’s walk
This year, the annual men’s walk will begin at 10:30 a.m.
It is held every year for McMaster staff, faculty, and students as part of a larger set of programming for the National Day of Action and Remembrance on Violence Against Women, offering an opportunity for men on campus to reflect on their role in working to end gender-based violence.
Organizers invite men to take a walking tour around campus to four memorial sites. At each stop along the walk, one man takes a rose, places it at the memorial site, and shares a few words. Each stop ends with a moment of silence.
