November is Woman Abuse Prevention Month, and the month includes the Transgender Day of Remembrance and the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
Maggie’s Resource Centre executive director Melissa St Pierre said Nov. 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and that day also begins the 16 Days of Activism.
“The importance of recognizing women’s abuse prevention month is to continue to raise awareness of the sad reality that Femicide still is happening in Ontario, Canada and worldwide. From November 2024 to (last) September, 35 women in Ontario have been victims of Femicide,” St Pierre said.
“I think the need for education, empowering survivors and supporting women is needed especially in rural communities. This is not just a women’s ‘issue’ but an issue that affects everyone.”
St Pierre said during the 16 Days of Activism, there’s also Giving Tuesday on Dec. 2 and the 36th year since the Polytechique Massacre happened in Montreal is remembered on Dec. 6. The 16 days wrap up on Dec. 10 with International Human Rights Day.
Maggie’s is selling purple scarves, a colour often associated with domestic violence prevention, during their Wrapped in Courage campaign.
The Wrapped in Courage website states that the campaign was started in 2013 by the Ontario Association of Interval & Transition Houses (OAITH), to raise awareness in communities and amongst elected officials about the need to fund resources for women and children facing violence.
St Pierre said they’ll be wearing the scarves on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Also happening during Woman Abuse Prevention Month is the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) website says the day started to be observed in 1999 as a vigil in memory of transgender woman Rita Hester, and has since grown into the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Brittany Brown from the resource centre says they’ll be compiling a portfolio in remembrance of transgender women who were taken too soon by acts of violence.
Brown said the focus will be on recognizing and memorializing individual women, and saying their names.
“When it comes to media and this weird obsession with serial killers and violent people, I think we all too often remember the offenders who did these horrible things and we often forget about the victims and their families and the impact that losing these wonderful people actually made,” she said.
Brown said having a day of “remembrance” helps shift the focus back onto the people who deserve to be remembered and honoured.
They’ll be hosting a crafting time, open to women, non-binary, transgender and two-spirit people, on Nov. 20 to create the portfolio.
