Since December 6th, 2011, eleven women have been killed in Manitoba.

The Manitoba Federation of Labour Women’s Committee marked the 2012 December 6th Day of Remembrance with a lunch gathering at the Union Centre  to mourn these women and all women who are victims of violence.

December 6th marks the day when 14 women students at Montreal’s l’Ecole Polythechnique were killed by a gunman in 1989 solely because they were women.

Committee Chair Charlene Matheson said, “That horrible massacre of women by a misogynist led to the establishment of the Federal Long-Gun Registry – a record of firearm and ammunition sales in Canada that helped reduce the number of deaths by gun fire. To the shame of Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada, that Registry was discontinued this year and most of its records destroyed.”

In 2009, statistics showed that the long-gun registry, and the work that it supports, reduced gun-related spousal homicides by 50% since it was put in place in 1995.

Over lunch, attendees heard remarks by the Hon. Jennifer Howard, Minister of Family Services and Labour, and the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women and by Barbara Byers, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Matheson said, “The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women gives us an opportunity to come together and mourn the eleven women who were killed in Manitoba since the last Day of Remembrance. It is a moment for us to focus on the ongoing reality of violence against women and to rededicate ourselves to the effort to eradicate it.”

During the event, a Candle Light Service was held in memory of the 14 women killed at l’Ecole Polytechnique on December 6th 1989, and the 11 Manitoba women killed in the past year. Candles will be lit by student volunteers from Winnipeg’s Churchill High School.

The event raised funds and food for the West Central Women’s Resource Centre.