Sarah Boyd, the executive director of the Northern Women's Centre at UNBC, was propelled into a lifetime of activism by the events of December 6th, 1989.
"I was a young woman working in Toronto at the time, and I heard about the massacre in the news. That night, it had a huge impact on me," Boyd said, speaking at a UNBC memorial Wednesday, held to commemorate the killing of 14 women at cole Polytechnique in Montreal.
The shooting shocked Canadians from coast to coast. Women were specifically targeted in the attack, as the shooter claimed he was "fighting feminists." The mass shooting, one of the biggest in Canadian history, has been commemorated by memorial events throughout the country for 28 years.
Wednesday's memorial, attended by close to 50 students and faculty, ended with a performance by the Khast'an Drummers, whose membership is composed of Lheidli T'enneh members. The event featured speeches by Mayor Lyn Hall, UNBC President Daniel Weeks and other elders, academics and activists.
The memorial closed the Inspiring Women Among Us conference at UNBC, a 13-day series of events focused upon the contributions and leadership of women in the community.
Boyd believes that gender-based violence is still an urgent issue in Prince George and pointed to the ongoing controversy surrounding missing and murdered indigenous women. The stretch of highway between Prince George and Prince Rupert known as the Highway of Tears has become infamous for the disappearances of many First Nations women. In response to these and other disappearances, the federal government launched a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Women and Girls in September of 2016.
Hira Rashid, a third-year social work student, served as the MC for Wednesday's memorial. Rashid, who is an active volunteer with the Northern Women's Centre, said that indigenous, poor and immigrant women continue to be particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence. She believes that more can be done to prevent this violence, and that men have a significant role to play.
"We encourage people to get involved," she said following the memorial.
"It would be great to have more men attend."
