CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The P.E.I. Advisory Council on the Status of Women is once again hosting the annual Charlottetown memorial service to mark Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
The service will be held Friday, Dec. 6 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in Memorial Hall at the Confederation Centre of the Arts.
Candles will be lit in remembrance of 14 women murdered in the Montreal Massacre of 1989 and each of the 10 Island women murdered since that year.
The thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada will be honoured with the unveiling of a newly-commissioned art piece by Patricia Bourque. Elder Julie Pellissier
Lush will offer Mi’kmaw prayers to open the service.
Dawn Wilson will speak about “Supporting Survivors on P.E.I.: A Remembrance.”
Vocalists Kate Dempsey, Allison Kelly and Marlee Saulnier will perform a song selection, and Todd MacLean will provide piano accompaniment during the program. The Union of Public Sector Employees will display their “silent witness” silhouettes representing Island women who have been murdered by men who knew them.
Dec. 6 marks 30 years since the Montreal Massacre at l’École polytechnique. Polytechnique has reached out this year to partner with engineering schools across the country to commemorate this event by beaming a giant light into the sky.
The Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering at UPEI will commemorate the event with a lighting at 5 p.m. in its building at the learning staircase.
“Join faculty members, students and others as we mark this event and reflect on diversity within engineering and the work that has been done and continues to be needed,’’ the faculty said in a statement.
