Waterloo’s Montreal massacre vigil emcee says ‘misogyny has not gone away’ and more can be done | CBC News
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Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn’t feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
“The issue of violence, violence against women — has not gone away,” Walker told CBC’s The Morning Edition host, Craig Norris.
“The misogyny has not gone away. Intimate partner violence has not gone away so we need to keep this in people’s vision.”
On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 women, including engineering students, a nursing student and a staff member, were killed in a shooting rampage at Montreal’s École Polytechnique by a gunman who shouted: “I hate feminists.”
Waterloo’s vigil is being held Saturday at the Cedars Worship Centre on the 36th anniversary of the attack. It also marks National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
“It’s a time to remember the 14 women,” says Walker. “So we will be naming them all. And I think this is an important part of it: is the actual naming of the women. To remember that they’re individuals. It’s so easy just to have a statistic.”
“They had families and friends. They were at least daughters and some may have been mothers, sisters, cousins.”
Every year, 102 women are murdered in gender-based violence in this country, according to Statistics Canada, and in 2023, the Region of Waterloo named intimate partner violence as an epidemic.
Walker feels a connection to the tragic event in Montreal because she graduated from Concordia in mechanical engineering a few years before.
“That could’ve been me,” says Walker, who is now a priest at Kitchener’s St. Andrew’s Memorial Anglican Church.
Men joining in the conversation
Walker would like to see more men join in the conversation around intimate partner violence — she sees it as a missing piece in the dialogue.
“I think part of this is it’s become a women’s conversation,” she says. “Or an LGBTQ conversation but not bringing the men in because, unfortunately, the largest majority of women injured or killed in intimate partner violence are by men.”
Saturday’s event in Waterloo is a collaboration between YWCA Kitchener-Waterloo, Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region and Canadian Federation of University Women, Kitchener-Waterloo.
“As women-led organizations, we stand together to commemorate this day and reignite a powerful movement to speak out against gender-based violence,” the collective said in a statement. “We remember, we grieve, and we call for action.”
