KENORA — A vigil marking the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre when a gunman killed 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989 is being held Tuesday afternoon in Kenora.
The Kenora Sexual Assault Centre is organizing the event with the Ontario Native Women’s Association, Women’s Place Kenora, Ne-Chee Friendship Centre, and Women’s Shelter Saakaate House, taking place at noon at Market Square.
Jaye Wesley, the executive director of the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre, said there’s always the need just to keep everything out in the forefront and to fight for equality for women.
“What we do is we go down and we put down a ceremonial blanket and we lay roses down and each rose has the name of the individuals that were killed in the massacre,” she said. “We will have an elder there who will open the ceremony and we will just give a small speech, just in remembrance to everyone that was massacred at the school.”
Wesley said the event will also mention Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two Spirited people. She said everyone should remember that everyone’s equal and fighting feminism isn’t necessary.
However, she added that people should be aware about what happens when there are still people out there that don’t think the same way about equality.
“We really try to education around violence against women and we do a lot of public education around healthy relationships,” she said.
