Wednesday, December 6, 1995
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA
Wednesday, December 6, 1995
The House met at 1:30 p.m.
PRAYERS
ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS
PRESENTING PETITIONS
Emergency Health Care Services--
Community Hospitals
Mr. Gary Kowalski (The Maples): Madam Speaker, I beg to present the petition of Doug Simpson, Robert Simpson, S. Simpson and others urging the Minister of Health (Mr. McCrae) consider making a commitment to the people of Manitoba that emergency health care services in Winnipeg's five community hospitals remain open seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS
National Day of Remembrance Respecting Violence Against Women
Hon. Rosemary Vodrey (Minister responsible for the Status of Women): Madam Speaker, I have a statement for the House.
Each year on this National Day of Remembrance Respecting Violence Against Women, we pause to remember the 14 young women killed in an act of mindless violence at École Polytechnique in Montreal. The shock and the horror does not subside over time. Once again, our hearts go out to the families and the friends of those young women who died in 1989.
Today, we also remember and honour the Manitoba women who have died as a result of violence and express our deepest sympathy to their families and friends.
All of us have a role to play in stopping the cycle of violence. It is our hope that by working together we can make Manitoba, our province, a safer place to live.
Our government has undertaken many initiatives to stem the tide of violence. We have adopted a stance of zero tolerance for violence in Manitoba. The Family Violence Court, the first of its kind in Canada, has been expanded to Brandon and Thompson and deals sensitively and speedily with cases of family violence.
We have instituted an aggressive charging policy and police protocol, such that no reported incident of domestic violence goes unaddressed.
We have lobbied and continue to lobby the federal government to strengthen the antistalking legislation in the Criminal Code. However, we cannot do it alone. We are working with communities and individuals to provide supports for families in crisis. We fund wife abuse committees throughout the province, as well as crisis telephone lines province-wide, ones sensitive to aboriginal women's particular concerns. Our shelter funding model is one of the best in Canada, and we have added counselling support services for women and children.
We are continuing our work in trying to change attitudes and behaviours of young people so that they will learn better ways of dealing with anger and frustration through programs such as No Need to Argue. The Women's Directorate co-sponsored with Winnipeg School Division No. 1 the London Family Violence Court's A School-Based Anti-Violence Program, or ASAP, to train educators and community groups to initiate violence prevention programs in their communities.
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In September of this year I had the pleasure of accepting on behalf of the people of Manitoba the Women's Grove Memorial Garden dedicated to Manitoba women who have been victims of violence. This beautiful garden and memorial is a wonderful way in which to honour and remember the Manitoba women who have died as a result of violence. While honouring those who have died, it is also a symbol of hope through its living commitment honouring women's lives.
This evening, at 7 p.m., a candlelight vigil will be held in the grove to honour the women who were killed in Montreal six years ago today.
December 6 has been declared A National Day of Remembrance and Action Respecting Violence Against Women. I would ask each of you to remember those Montreal students who were victims of violence, as well as the Manitoba women who have met their deaths by violent means.
Carved in the stone of the memorial garden is a pledge to end the violence against women. I urge all Manitobans to join in that pledge to end the violence, and I invite all members to attend tonight's vigil in this beautiful grove to honour and remember those who have died.
I would like to close by asking all of you, members of the Legislature, community and individuals, to continue to work together to build a Manitoba free from violence. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Ms. Diane McGifford (Osborne): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for her statement. I assure her that she can count on our side of the House to join communities, service providers and the women of Manitoba to work for a society which is free from violence. We certainly will, on our side of the House, be doing this work. A sign of our commitment is, of course, our Task Force Report on Violence Against Women which was released today replete with 90 recommendations for ending violence against women.
I thank the minister, too, for bringing to our attention the Women's memorial grove. I thank her personally as the former president of the December 6 Memorial Women's Committee and also as the current critic for the Status of Women. I, too, invite all members of the Legislature to join us at seven o'clock tonight for the vigil.
Since December 6, 1989, 600 Canadian women and 50 Manitoba women have been murdered in situations of intimacy, murdered by men whom they had once loved and trusted. Every week in Canada two women die this way. We on our side of the House join, I am sure, with all our colleagues in remembering, December 6, 1989, the 14 young women murdered in Montreal and the 13 others who were seriously wounded and now will always live marked by sexism and misogyny.
As parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers, as elected representatives of the people and as ordinary Canadians, we offer family members, friends and other survivors our sincere condolences and our strong commitment to end violence against women. We will not forget your daughters and in honour of them name them here: Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Natalie Croteau, Barbara Daignault, Ann-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Marie Klueznick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie Saint-Arneault and Annie Turcotte.
I would like to also mention today the names of the two Manitoba women who were murdered as a result of domestic violence this year: Rhonda Michelle Lavoie and Dawn Brunsel.