Outaouais Women Speak Out Against Poverty and Violence Against Women

Close to one hundred people participated in a march on Sunday, October 17, in Gatineau, organized by the Regional Committee for the 5th World March of Women to put an end to poverty and violence against women. A place of honour was given to Indigenous women as well as migrant and immigrant women.

The participants expressed their deep concern at the 18 femicides which have occurred in Quebec in the past year, the most recent one being in the Outaouais in which, tragically, two children lost their lives. It was pointed out that violence affects all women, but Indigenous women even more so, since they make up close to 10 per cent of the femicides while representing three per cent of the Quebec population. As well, migrant and immigrant women often have little or no access to services.

The organizers raised that society is in a state of crisis with respect to violence against women, as the pandemic and financial insecurity have made the situation worse. Within the context of a pandemic, they pointed out, it is difficult if not impossible for women to get the help they would normally have access to at their place of work or within the daycare system. A number of women who received much needed help from women’s shelters pointed out the importance of governments supporting the shelters.

The World March of Women was originally organized in 1995 by the Quebec Federation of Women under the “Bread and Roses” banner and it was specifically aimed at ending poverty and violence against women.

(Photos: CALAS)

This article was published in:

Renewal Update No. 75, December 9, 2021

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Outaouais Women Speak Out Against Poverty and Violence Against Women