[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/dec6_ceremony1.jpg” caption=”At last night’s ceremony, candles were lit and 19 roses were placed on a table in honour of victims’ of violence.”]A Service of Remembrance for female victims of violence was held last night at McMaster in an auditorium filled with students, faculty and staff. The annual gathering was organized by the Anti-Violence Network at McMaster University.

On the National Day of Remembrance & Action on Violence Against Women, the service focused on the events of December 6, 1989 when 14 female engineering students were murdered in Montreal. These victims were honoured, as well as four murdered females who were members of the McMaster community and 500 Aboriginal women who have been murdered or went missing in Canada in the past 20 years.

Reflections on these losses were presented by Carol Wood, chaplain; Tommy Piribauer, MSU president; Phil Wood, dean of students; Evelyn Myrie, community activist; Jesse Sturgeon, of Exploring Men's Voices; and Sarah Dickson, assistant professor in Faculty of Engineering. Nineteen roses were placed on a table as the victims were remembered and honoured with the lighting of a candle. Music wove through the service as students Taryn Beukema played piano and soloist Meghan Bodis performed. Poetry was read by students representing various student groups.

It was a somber occasion that was brightened by two special presentations that portray McMaster students as agents of change in this area. The McMaster Engineering Society presented a banner with hundreds of signatures collected during the previous week of the White Ribbon campaign in JHE. The white ribbon signifies men against violence. Andrea Rowan and Hanieh Rahimi presented the work of the Bathtub Project, in which toiletries and other personal items were collected from the McMaster community to be presented to various women's shelters in the city of Hamilton.