Executive Council
November 28, 2016

The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Cathy Bennett, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women:

Provincial Government Raises First Purple Ribbon Flag

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House today to highlight that the Purple Ribbon flag has been raised for the first time at Confederation Building. This is to mark the beginning of the 7th annual Purple Ribbon campaign to increase awareness and responsiveness to violence against women. The flag will remain in place until December 10, coinciding with the International16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. I am very proud to say, Mr. Speaker, that Newfoundland and Labrador is the first province in Canada to fly the Purple Ribbon flag.

Today Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the House to reflect on the continued struggle that women face every day in our society. Violence is an issue that, unfortunately, we have not yet successfully eradicated. Last Friday marked the beginning of a remembrance period for women who have died at the hands of a violent perpetrator. There are many faces to a violent perpetrator, but the victim is most often a familiar female face, someone's mother, sister, daughter or friend.

Whether women succumb to violence in their own home, at a social location, or anywhere else, we should never accept that somehow a woman "got herself into an unsafe situation." We all have the right to come home to a safe house, to socialize with our friends, to attend a medical appointment, to ride in a taxi, or to simply walk down the street without fear of being attacked.

As the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, I hear from women all the time on this issue. This month, our government introduced legislation to ensure there is a safe zone near medical clinics to ensure a woman's right to safe access to medical procedures. I wish there was a way we could legislate safety and respect. I wish we could legislate a guarantee to women that they could live in a safe and non-violent society. Unfortunately, we cannot do that.

But we can and will ensure there is a focus on the issue of a woman's right to live without violence. We must teach our children what is right and what is wrong. We must teach our daughters to be brave and feel empowered to live the best life they can live. We must teach all of our children that tolerance and kindness are much more powerful than the cowardice of a violent act. There are many people in our province who have felt the pain of losing someone to a violent act. The pain they live with is never ending. I would like to challenge my honourable colleagues that as long as we sit in this House and represent the people of this province, let us never stop working towards making our lives safer. To the families of those women who have died at the hand of a violent perpetrator, please know that we support you. We believe we can make things better if we continue to place the focus on this issue in memory of your mother, your sister, your daughter, your friend.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

2016 11 28             2:00 p.m.