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Ceremony honouring lives lost at art gallery

In honour of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, the Comox Valley Transition Society and Honouring Our Sisters will host a vigil at noon Wednesday, Dec. 6 on the plaza in front of the Comox Valley Art Gallery, 580 Duncan Ave., Courtenay.

In honour of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, the Comox Valley Transition Society and Honouring Our Sisters will host a vigil at noon Wednesday, Dec. 6 on the plaza in front of the Comox Valley Art Gallery, 580 Duncan Ave., Courtenay.

Dec. 6 will be the 28th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, where 14 young women were gunned down simply because they were women who were studying to become engineers.That event galvanized the movement to end violence against women which continues to this day.

Every six days, a woman is murdered by a current or former partner. Over the last 40 years, approximately 1,200 Indigenous women have gone missing or have been murdered in Canada.

On Dec. 6, all women whose lives have been lost as a result of male violence are remembered and honoured. They were sisters, mothers, daughters, aunties, cousins, wives, partners and friends. They have been loved. But they have been taken from us too soon.

Everyone is welcome to join us for a vigil that will include speakers, songs, and the traditional laying of the roses. For more information, please call 250-897-0511.

Comox Valley Transition Society provides a range of services, including safe shelter, a crisis line, and counselling for women who have experienced abuse in relationships, and their children, as a well as a support group for men seeking a non-judgemental forum to deal with the pressures of everyday life.

Honouring Our Sisters is made up of community members who came together during the 2015 Walking With Our Sisters memorial and wish to continue the work of honouring and raising awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women.