Mr. Speaker, on December 6, 1989, the entire country was horrified to learn that 14 young women with bright futures had been killed in cold blood for the sole reason that they were women.
There were tears and anger, and 30 years later, the sadness and bewilderment still linger.
How can we, as a society, stand by when people are killed simply because they are women? The pain of their loss will stay with us forever.
We must never forget this tragedy, and every single one of us has a responsibility to keep building a society in which all women feel respected, are free to pursue their passions, and do not face barriers because they are women.
We owe that to these 14 women, but we also owe it to our daughters, to our sisters, to our mothers and to who we are as Canadians.