Hamilton joined other cities across Canada on Saturday to hold vigils and light up key venues to mark the 25th anniversary of the Montreal massacre.
Hamilton City Hall will be lit red to call for an end to violence against women and girls. Other iconic buildings, bridges and monuments across the country — such as Signal Hill in St. John's, the CN Tower in Toronto and BC Place in Vancouver — will also be lit at sunset local time.
Dec. 6 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. On Dec. 6, 1989 Marc Lépine, who professed to hate feminists, fatally shot 14 women at the École Polytechnique de Montréal. He then killed himself after the rampage. Most of the victims were female engineering students.
Light the Night Against Violence is part of the Rose Campaign by YWCA Canada, the country's largest women's advocacy organization and the largest provider of shelter to women and children fleeing violence, according to the organization.
On the other side of the city, the Native Women's Centre also organized a candlelight vigil on the Mountain to mark the occasion.
Andrea Horwath, MPP for Hamilton Centre and leader of the Ontario NDP, attended the vigil. She recalled that the attack happened not long after she completed her university studies at McMaster University.
"[My friends and I] were shocked, we were horrified, we were angry, we wept," she said, standing in front of a screen that displayed the names of hundreds of women and their children in Ontario killed by violence in the last decade.
Horwath, who described herself as a feminist and an activist, said she realized her life was very similar to the lives of the victims.
Andrew Horwath, Hamilton Centre MPP and leader of the Ontario NDP, attended the vigil. (Sunnie Huang/CBC)
"I believed in exactly the same things they believed. I still believe in those things: the rights of women to participate fully in every aspect of our society without fear, without worry, but with courage and pride and being valued equally to men."
She added that the lack of shelter beds, affordable child care and affordable housing contributed to forcing women to go back to violent relationships. An economy that relies more and more on precarious work is also to blame, she said.
So far in 2014, 5,800 incidents of sexual assault and domestic violence have been reported to Hamilton police — averaging about 17 incidents each day.
And reports in these categories continue to rise, according to Det. Sgt. Dave Hennick, who also spoke at the vigil.
Hennick called for police, politicians, advocacy groups and community partners to work together to end violence against women.
"It's vital we continue to work collaboratively to educate everyone," he said.
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