Woman Abuse Prevention Month

Ms. Cheri DiNovo: It’s an honour and privilege always to stand as women’s critic, on behalf of the New Democratic Party and our leader Andrea Horwath, to speak to this important initiative.

Many people here know that I used to be in active duty as aUnitedChurchminister full time. What they don’t know is that in our church, a large portion of our church came from marginalized communities, many with mental health issues, many with addiction issues, many with prison records.

But I have to say that though hundreds would flock to our sanctuary from those communities, I never felt frightened once, except for one day. One day, on a Saturday afternoon, this young woman, well-heeled, well-educated, came running into the church, chased by her husband. There were programs going on—yoga programs, yoga classes—and children were in the building. She ran into my study. I locked the door. He chased her from room to room, upsetting the entire establishment. There was no time to call the police. Finally, luckily—and it was luck only, Mr. Speaker—when he left, I found her cowering in my office in terror. For a few minutes, I and we got a taste of what she lived with every day of her life.

I want to focus on two initiatives, two positive initiatives, that we all support here at the House. Number 1, Ruth’s Daughters, was launched at Queen’s Park two years ago on Mother’s Day. Donna Cansfield and Christine Elliott came, along with faith leaders from acrossOntario, and we all agreed on one thing: We wanted to see an end to domestic violence. And that happened in this very House.

I want to report, Mr. Speaker, that since that day, we’ve encouraged all faith traditions to focus one service a year on this issue, and it has happened. There have been two huge masses done by the Roman Catholic church, and many services by other denominations and faiths. Many groups have started since then. We look forward to this Mother’s Day to commemorate those events.

The second initiative, the White Ribbon Campaign, has already been mentioned. What wasn’t mentioned is that it was started by someone who now belongs to all Canadians—that’s our own Jack Layton. He and a couple of others were at a kitchen table. They were men who said, in response to the member from the PC caucus, that men have to do something about this initiative. And now, as you heard, it’s in 60 different countries.

Last Sunday in mychurchofHumbercrest United, the two initiatives met as we did a service for Ruth’s Daughters, and the lead speaker was the executive director, Todd Minerson, from the White Ribbon Campaign initiatives met as we did a service for Ruth’s Daughters and the lead speaker was the executive director Todd from the White Ribbon Campaign.

When we discussed the service and we set it up, we thought we would have a candle-lighting ceremony at the end of the service to commemorate women who had been lost to members of the community or known to be lost by members of the community, and we discussed how many candles to get. We didn’t know if anybody would get up—we’re United Churchers, we’re a little reticent—to light a candle but we bought 25 thinking maybe about 25 people would come forward. Every single person from that congregation got up and walked to the front to light a candle in prayer and remembrance of some woman they knew who had been lost to domestic violence. That’s how pervasive the problem is. We ran out of candles, but, Mr. Speaker, we never run out of hope.

I hope that those candles and the light from that service and the light that’s been shed here today on this problem is carried forth by every member here into their communities; that they find out about Ruth’s Daughters and the White Ribbon Campaign if they don’t know much about them and that they carry that light forward so that, in the holiday season we all look forward to, we share with our families a season of peace, a season that is free from domestic violence, and a season, Mr. Speaker, and members here, that is safe for all of our sisters.