Candlelit Vigil at Woodstock Courthouse Tonight

Tuesday, 6 December 2022 at 06:08

By Marcie Culbert

A candlelit vigil will be taking place at the Woodstock courthouse at 6:00 p.m. tonight in honour of National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

WOODSTOCK - It has been 33 years since the Montreal Massacre.

Twenty-eight people were gunned down in the antifeminist mass shooting at École Polytechnique on December 6th 1989, resulting in the deaths of 14 women.

Joanna Piatkowski is the Manager of Programs and Outreach at Ingamo Homes and she is also a member of the Domestic Abuse Resource Team (DART) for Oxford County. She says a vigil will be taking place at the Woodstock courthouse tonight.

"It's going to be a candlelit vigil held at 6:00 p.m. at the courthouse where we will share the importance of the day, what is happening in the community in relation to these issues, and share space with one another and commemorate those deaths."

Tonight's vigil will include a moment of silence to remember the victims. There will also be several guest speakers including representatives from Ingamo Homes and Domestic Abuse Services Oxford (DASO).

Piatkowski is encouraging everyone to come out, pay their respects and help shine a light on violence against women.

"Recently there were some statistics that came out around the number of deaths that have been happening in Ontario. We have had 52 femicides, which are deaths of women, in the last 52 weeks. That's literally a death per week. I think what we're noticing as a community is we need to start coming together and really shine a light on these issues and how they still continue to exist. This happened in 1989, that's over 30 years ago, and yet women are still dying at the hands of folks that don't want them to live."

She says tonight's event is open to all ages, and those who attend should arrive before the ceremony begins at 6:00 p.m.

The vigil is being hosted by DART Oxford and the Zonta Club of Woodstock.