STORY BY CATARINA MUIA
“Gender-based violence has no room at Sheridan, or anywhere in our society,” said president Jeff Zabudsky to open the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women ceremony last Friday.
This year the memorial was held at Sheridan’s Trafalgar Campus where about 100 faculty and students gathered to listen to speeches, find out about the community’s strategy to end violence against women, and remember the victims of the Montreal massacre at École Polytechnique.
“In Canada today, more than 1 in 10 women say that they have been stalked by someone, and that they have feared for their life.
“Half of all women have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16.”
Zabudsky explained that although education for this issue is increasing, the problem still has not stopped and is very real, it actually happens, and that it needs to be taken seriously.
“This isn’t something that just happens out there, it happens to many women, but we have a notion that we can’t speak up about it,” said Paula Laing, a student success advisor at the Aboriginal Initiatives Office, who attended the ceremony.
“I would offer anyone in need all the support [possible]. There is safety in the community, you just need to find that safe place where you’re allowed to talk about it and not be judged.”
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Sheridan Student Union president Jenna Pulver also attended the ceremony to show her support and pay her respects to the 14 women who lost their lives in Montreal.
“When all these terrible things happen, it is really important to remember because a lot of people see it as just something that flashes across their TV screen and then a few weeks later it’s gone,” said Pulver. “But it’s real. These are real people. It could be a reality for us. I would really hope that it’s not but it’s important that we remember people that were our age, that went to school.
“It’s important to remember this and to be safe.”
