16 Days of Activism is an initiative focused on eliminating gender-based violence.
Tahlia Holm, Supervisor at the Esprit Place Family Resource Centre in Parry Sound, says this topic is important. Holm added gender-based violence is prevalent in history in such things as massacres, but also closer to home, in lives affected deeply by violence within our own community.
Holm says Esprit Place works every day in their own way to eliminate violence, but their focus during these 16 days is on Dec. 6th, with the National Day of Remembrance for those women who lost their lives in 1989 during the Montreal Massacre. That was the shooting at École Polytechnique that took the lives of 14 women.
“We work daily with those who are facing abuse or experiencing homelessness currently, and the community has really come together recently with the Handbags for Hope organized by the library, as well as the EMS toy drive and the fire food drive. We want to say thank you to these great organizations and to the community for supporting!” she said.
In partnership with St. Mary’s Centre, Esprit Place is holding a candlelight remembrance ceremony at noon on December 6th at 24 Mary Street to mark the 29th year since the massacre.