SASKATOON – Dozens of empty shoes lined Saskatoon City Hall’s cenotaph for the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Friday.
Jessica Harrington helped to organize the memorial art display, which she said is symbolic.
“Those people left footprints in the world,” she explained.
“So we thought we really hit on a resonant symbol with the shoes.”
City hall’s flag was also lowered for the event.
Vigils have been held across Canada to mark the 24th anniversary of the massacre at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique. In 1989, a lone gunman murdered 14 women before taking his own life.
“We just wanted to symbolically show that it’s not just 14 women who were massacred 24 years ago, it’s women everywhere, everyday who are being affected by violence,” said Tara Kooy, with the Saskatoon Women’s Community Coalition.
Local organizers said gatherings like this one are a reminder that much work needs to be done to prevent gender-based violence.
The gunman responsible for the Montreal massacre claimed feminism ruined his life. Harrington said anti-feminist sentiment is still prevalent in society.
“If you actually go and YouTube video footage of the original massacre, there are still YouTube commenters, male YouTube commenters, who are saying that the gunner was a hero and this was laudable and something that needed to be done,” Harrington explained.
A National Day of Remembrance vigil is being held at St. Thomas More College on Sunday.
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