Open letter, May 6, 2011
In response to the recent election, we, the mothers of victims of gun violence, are calling on politicians to stand up for public safety. During the election it became clear that many candidates were ill-informed about how important the gun registry is as a tool for police.
On this day in 1989, 25-year-old Marc Lepine, screaming "I hate feminists!" shot and killed Anne-Marie Edward, Anne-Marie Lemay, Annie St. Arneault, Annie Turcotte, Barbara Daigneault, Barbara Marie Klucznik, Genevieve Bergeron, Helene Colgan, Maryse LeClaire, Maryse Leganiere, Maud Haviernier, Michele Richard, Nathalie Croteau and Sonia Pelletier.
Dozens of vigils, memorials and public events will take place across Canada today remembering these 14 women. We will gather to speak about the ongoing violence perpetuated by men against women and trans people that forms the basis of our rape-culture.
In September 2005, Emory University Professor Erica Frank came to a none-too-startling conclusion: that investments in basics like disease prevention and research would save far more lives than the hundreds of billions spent in the "war on terror." Citing one example, Dr. Frank noted that in September 2002, New York State spent $1.3 million to reduce heart disease (the leading cause of death in the state) while the state budgeted $34 million for bio-terrorism preparedness (the latter an issue rooted largely in the netherworld of speculation).
Such fact-based reality checks are nuisances to politicians and corporate executives who profit from fear and the substanceless scenarios that make for memorable nightmares, as well as hefty "defence and security" contracts.
How is it -- simultaneous with a Missing Women inquiry that excludes the families of many hundreds of missing and murdered Aboriginal women -- that this nation has learned the names of Zainab, Sahari, and Geeti Shafia, and Rona Amir Mohammad, as the only newsworthy examples of women murdered in Canada? This is a question of honour: in a nation that has shown itself incapable of respecting the dead, how do we honour the memories of women killed by their families? And what is the etiquette for "remembering" people we meet only posthumously? How do we honour the fullness of their lives?
The Shafia case is so unsettling that it seems to unleash the search for a single key to explain it. Then you could toss away other keys that don't work, and even lock the door to a recurrence. But I don't think that's the way to go.
For instance, people ask: Was it about honour killing or domestic violence? Yet honour killings are domestic violence. You lose something in understanding if you discard either category. And domestic violence is a case of violence in general. The same holds when you try to decide if the murders are social, cultural or religious. Religion and culture are social. Why choose?
Spoken-word poet Mark Gonzales once said that he understands how so many women "have a story that's been told to a maximum of one soul -- maybe less."
I agree with his sentiment entirely.
We are at a time of irony in the legacy of our People, in our history linking to our future, and within our First Nation communities.
In this time of irony (and what I can only describe as an era where too many of our indigenous men have become walking contradictions to the very cultural affinities that we claim to respect, protect, and place pride within), a step backward with open eyes would suggest to the very contrary as one examines the experiences and realities that too many of our Indigenous and First Nation women wake to on a daily basis.
Ottawa, October 25, 2011: The government introduced today in the House of Commons Bill C-19. Police, public health, women and victims of gun violence groups are outraged about Bill C-19 because, if passed, it will eliminate the registration of non-restricted firearms (rifles and shotguns).
In the upcoming days, the Coalition for Gun Control will look at the fine print of the bill, but it appears that the government is proposing an archaic roll back of the clock to the days when police recovered a gun and had to search store by store to see where the firearm was sold.
The Coalition for Gun Control is urging Canadians to tell their Member of Parliament to stand up for safety and stop the bill at second reading.
