Today I stand in honour of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. The key word here is “action.” To truly honour the 14 women murdered means to act so that it doesn’t happen again, because, sadly, this massacre was not an isolated moment in time. Since 1990, there have been at least 980 femicides in our province alone.

This past May, four Indigenous women were viciously murdered as an act of femicide. We must remember their names too: Rebecca Contois, Marcedes Myran, Morgan Beatrice Harris, and the one who elders named Buffalo Woman. Each of these women had their full lives in front of them and they should still be living today. But because of violent misogyny, racism and colonialism, they are not.

Gender-based violence, including femicide, is a national epidemic. Let’s start by naming exactly what it is. Despite being a national epidemic, the province still has a role to play. The government’s endorsement of the national action plan on violence against women is not enough. It is more words or empty signals when there’s no action backing it up.

Earlier this year, the Renfrew county inquest was published in response to the femicide of three women in Renfrew county, with 86 total recommendations; 68 of these are under the province’s mandate. These 68 have yet to be answered to with any plan of action and, importantly, budget to implement them. These include establishing an independent intimate partner violence commission, a survivors’ advocate so survivors and their families and communities have a voice at the table; ensuring an annualized funding model is applied across the sector so each dollar can be spent on community care, not administration and reporting; and developing a plan for real, affordable, second-stage housing so that shelters aren’t the only housing available. These are just a few of the many at hand for this government that they continually to fail to answer to.

I also want to note that this is too often framed as a women’s issue. This is as much a women’s issue as a men’s issue. I want to thank the organization Counterpoint, in St. Paul’s, for recognizing this and putting in the work there with their counselling and educational programs dedicated for men’s learning specifically. Prevention does not happen without men’s work too.