According to survey results released by the labour movement and Western University's Faculty of Education today, domestic violence is widespread in Canada and its effects are following people to work.
A woman living with a violent partner may try as many as seven times to leave before being able to make a permanent break— if she can. Each year, as many as 80 women are not able to get out. They, and often their children, are murdered by an abuser because the system has utterly failed them.
This year has been a year of tragedies for many in the world, from missing planes and sinking ferries, to armed civil unrest and schoolgirl abductions. But closer to home, 2014 marks an important anniversary in the lives of Canadians both young and old. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre in which 14 women were killed at École Polytechnique in Quebec. The reason for this brutal attack: a man “fighting feminism” and seeking revenge for the women he believed ruined his life.
Violence against women isn’t a series of isolated incidents, it’s a systemic issue that is rooted in sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and other forms of discrimination and oppression. It’s all connected, and we can’t end violence against women without turning our attention to these issues.
