Mr. Speaker, for thousands of women, what ought to be the security of family, hearth, and home becomes a place of fear.
On any given night, more than 3,300 Canadian women escape domestic violence to sleep in emergency shelters. The solemn vow of “I will love and honour you all the days of my life”, a shattered dream.
Fifty percent of Canada's women have experienced sexual or physical violence after the age of 16. In Canada, the most horrific act of hate-fuelled mass murder occurred on December 6, 1989, at École Polytechnique in Montréal. On that terrible day, 14 young women were rounded up, separated from their male counterparts, and murdered, shot in cold blood.
We must expose and address the culture of violence, the propagation of hatred against women, whether cloaked in popular music or on the Internet. Canadians must confront the issue of a culture of violence against women.