By Patricia Nicholson

In the ongoing struggle to end violence against women, much has changed since Dec. 6, 1989 – the day of the Montreal massacre when a gunman killed 14 young women at the Ecole Polytechnique, shouting “I hate feminists.” But there’s much more work to be done.

Women’s College Hospital’s annual ceremony marking the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women was both a moving recognition of the women lost to gender-based violence, and a rallying cry for further work to end that violence.

In a keynote speech called Violence Against Women: A Report Card, feminist lawyer Pamela Cross outlined some of the progress that’s been made since 1989, and offered some suggestions to continue that work. Cross is a leader in law reform in the area of violence against women, and legal director for Luke’s Place, an organization providing legal support to women who have experienced abuse.

Then and now

Thinking back 22 years, Cross spoke of the shock and grief of the Montreal massacre, but also of the prevailing attitudes toward violence against women at that time: there were no stalking laws, so police were powerless to help endangered women until an actual assault took place; rape myths and victim stereotypes were strong, and victims had little privacy protection; and women who spoke out against abuse were mocked, attacked and derided.

As a result of sustained, committed work to understand and address violence against women, many positive changes have been implemented since 1989. Cross noted examples such as the criminalization of stalking, privacy protection in sexual assault proceedings, changes to family law ensuring that violence within the family be taken into consideration in custody and access decisions, and the Ontario government’s introduction of action plans on domestic violence and sexual violence.

“We should – even on a day as filled with as much sadness as today is – feel proud of that work,” Cross said. “Because it’s saved the lives of women and children, and it has improved our response to the violence that still happens.”

But the task is by no means complete. Cross’s report card noted that there are now 171 shelters in Ontario, which served 19,000 abused women and children last year.

“Those shelters are full today,” she said.

The landscape of violence against women remains a grim one: a woman is murdered by her partner or former partner approximately once a week in Canada. All types of homicide are on the decline in Canada, with the exception of domestic murders. Sexual violence remains shockingly high, especially against younger women.

Clearly there is more work to be done, and Cross offered some suggestions for how to move forward:

We need to address the myth that violence is gender-neutral. “As a society we continue to deny the reality of violence against women,” Cross said.  “We want to use language like ‘domestic violence’ to pretend that it’s a roughly equal two-way street.”

We need to engage men in this work more than we have in the past. “Because it’s men who are the abusers, and those who are not must speak out: must hold their brothers, fathers, sons, coworkers and bosses accountable for their behaviour.”

We need to engage young women in this work. “We need to encourage young women to see that feminism is not a dirty word, that women’s equality matters, that violence against women can and will affect them, and that they have a responsibility to act.” 

Cross called for a recommitment to working together to end violence against women, and to remember what happened on Dec. 6, as well as the violence that happens to too many women in our communities every day.

“You, like me, are here today because you want to commemorate the lives that Marc Lepine ended so abruptly on this day in 1989,” Cross said. “We’re here because we still have work to do, and we want to be part of that work. We want to remember the ‘action’ part of the National Day of Remembrance and Action.”

Read more on violence against women:

A call to action on the oppression of girls and women

Trauma therapy: helping survivors of abuse and violence

For more information on mental health:

Women's Health Matters Mental Health Centre

Women's College Hospital mental health programs