National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

Posted on by William Bishop

30 years ago, a senseless act of violence occurred at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal that took the lives of 14 young women.

There is no place in society for gender-based violence.

infobite1-en

The above image is one of many that the Government of Canada has prepared for individuals to start a conversation on gender-based violence.  Additional images can be found here for those wishing to start a conversation.  Remember to include the hashtag #OurActionsMatter to have your voice heard.

Today at 10:30 am, the University of Waterloo will commemorate the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women with a ceremony in the 2nd Floor Atrium of Engineering 7.  You can officially register for the event here but there will be space set aside for people to attend, even if they have not officially registered.

In addition to the ceremony, the University of Waterloo will be participating in a nationwide memorial by shining a beam of light into the sky to honour and remember the 14 young women.  The beam of light will be turned on at 5:00 pm just outside of Engineering 5.  As visitors pass by the light, we ask that all reflect upon this tragedy and pay tribute with a moment of silence.

Should you wish to take positive action, one thing you can do is donate to the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation.  This foundation aims to attract women to the engineering profession to honour the memory of the 14 women whose lives tragically ended on December 6, 1989.  Many highly successful engineers have benefited from the work of this important foundation.

One of our University of Waterloo students was the recipient of the Nellie Giffen Ambassador Award for 2019 offered by the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation.  I would encourage interested female applicants and female students to consider applying for an Undergraduate Ambassador Award on the foundation’s website.  The deadline to apply for an award is January 13, 2020.

Published by William Bishop

I grew up in the small town of Welland, Ontario in the heart of the Niagara Peninsula. In my youth, I enjoyed softball, golf, and the uniquely Canadian sport of 5-pin bowling. My high school years were productive. I excelled at my studies and had enough time to devote towards extra-curricular activities to earn a school letter. I was fascinated with computers having owned a Commodore 64 and having maintained a network of Unisys machines running a very early version of QNX at my local high school. I had part-time jobs teaching computer courses to both adults and children at local secondary schools. I worked hard in my final year of high school to excel at the now defunct Descartes math competition and earn a spot in Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Little did I know that I would stay at the university for three degrees and eventually a permanent faculty position. Now, as Director of Admissions for Waterloo Engineering, I hope to share my thoughts on the road towards a career engineering.