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Kelowna to remember women, girls lost to gender-based violence

The Rotary Centre is hosting a vigil on the National Day of Action to End Violence Against Women
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Roses, candles and the names of the 14 women killed in the Ecole Polytechnique massacre in Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989 were placed at Okanagan College’s Salmon Arm campus for the United Against Violence against Women Candlelight Vigil. (Photo contributed)

Wednesday (Dec. 4) marks 34 years since 14 female engineering students were gunned down at Ècole Polytechnique in Montreal.

It is now recognized as the National Day of Remembrance and Action to End Violence Against Women.

The Central Okanagan Women’s Resource and Education Foundation will recognize the day with a vigil at Kelowna’s Rotary Centre for the Arts starting at 5:45 p.m. Attendees will walk to the courthouse and place roses on its steps in memory of women killed due to their gender.

According to a report from the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability, 184 women and girls were killed in Canada in 2022 because of their gender. Twenty-six of them were in B.C.

Numbers have been on the rise every year since 2018, according to the femicide report.

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Brittany Webster

About the Author: Brittany Webster

I am a video journalist based in Kelowna and capturing life in the Okanagan
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