14th annual Shine the Light on Women Abuse campaign begins

The 14th annual Shine the Light on Women Abuse campaign had its launch in London, Ont.’s Victoria Park Wednesday evening.

November is dedicated to the prevention and eventual elimination of violence against women.

This year’s campaign focuses not only on intimate partner violence, but also on the femicide experienced by missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.

The 2023 campaign honours domestic abuse survivor Renée Kowalchuk and 39-year-old Morgan Harris, who was murdered along with three other Indigenous women, allegedly by a serial killer.

“Every November, with this being the 14th year, we come together to turn London purple to raise awareness of the issues surrounding woman abuse,” London Abused Women’s Centre (LAWC) executive director Jennifer Dunn said.

“Women and girls in our community deserve to feel safe and deserve to be believed. Women need to know that any shame or blame that they feel does not belong to them. It belongs to the perpetrators of the abuse.”

At the launch, Kowalchuk shared her story with those in attendance and encouraged other women to speak out about their experiences.

“The thing that a lot of people don’t understand about domestic abuse is that it’s not a specific demographic. It happens to anyone, anywhere at any time,” Kowalchuk said.

She recounted how she met a man at a baseball tournament as a teen. The man was in his early 20s.

“I saw this guy — this cocky, gorgeous, athletic guy. And at one point, he noticed me. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. And I watched him play every game that day. He came and talked to me at one point, and I felt like I had met my Prince Charming.”

She told the crowd that the relationship made her feel special, but eventually he started to verbally and physically abuse her.

“There were many incidents of abuse by him. And it wasn’t always physical or sexual, which made it that much harder to end things. I had convinced myself that if he wasn’t physically hurting me, then it wasn’t that bad,” she told the crowd through tears.

Kowalchuk says it took her a long time to take control of her own life, and that through the work she did with LAWC, she can call herself a survivor of domestic abuse instead of a victim.

Dunn says it’s important to keep talking about the issue of violence against women.

“Right now we have over 60 municipalities that have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic. And really, we need the province on board, the federal government on board to try to put an end to this.”

She says that over the past year, LAWC has had over 11,000 service interactions, consisting of around 7,000 phone calls and 4,000 individual interactions.

“The numbers continue to increase during the months like this, where the awareness is a little bit higher. That doesn’t go away.”

Dunn says the most important day of the campaign is Nov. 15: Wear Purple Day. She says the whole idea of the day is to raise awareness for abused women and girls because they need to know they’re not alone.

“Wearing a purple shirt to work one day might let somebody know, ‘Hey, I will believe you, you can share your story, I know where you can go to get help if you’re ready.’”

A tree covered in purple lights in Victoria Park was lit up to officially launch the campaign. Prominent buildings in the city will be lit in purple as well.

Silhouettes of women who were killed by a man were placed by the tree, as part of LAWC’s Silent Witness Program. Each silhouette has a plaque that tells the victim’s story.

Several fundraising events have been planned for November as part of the campaign, and LAWC encourages the community to continue the conversation about violence against women.

For more information, visit the LAWC website.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual or gender-based violence, contact LAWC at 519-432-2204 or the Abused Women’s Helpline at 519-642-3000.

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