Statement from the family of Cynthia Maas

I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life-Ghandi

Our family has come forward publicly to speak on behalf of Cindy and the importance of recognizing who she was as a person and to highlight the urgency to ensure safety for all women in our society. Cindy had a right to live, to overcome her struggles, to become strong, and to be the mother she wanted to be.

The programs in Prince George available for struggling persons are what brought Cindy to Prince George for help. Cindy was a social victim of disability, ethnicity, class, gender as well as suffering the greatest indignity as a victim of murder, she is a poster child for vulnerability in our society. We would like Canada to strengthen the human rights of women, to provide policies and legislation which protect the vulnerable in our society. We are asking those in leadership to increase the funding for victims of violence, mental health and addictions. Our family would like journalists to please refrain from highlighting gender and lifestyle descriptions as it numbs public empathy and detracts from focusing on the brutal murder, in essence it does not help to prevent further injustices against women. We are concerned about all the other unsolved missing and murdered women. Murders do not just harm families but our society is harmed as we forget and are numbed by senseless violence perpetrated against women portrayed as deserving of death. Our family acknowledges society does not intend to harm the disabled through lack of opportunity, or the aboriginal through racism, or the female through classification and role distribution, but the harm is evident as women in Canada continue to struggle. Our family would like to see police around Canada attain the resources they need to solve these crimes as they occur. We would like to thank the investigative team from the RCMP detachment in Prince George who worked diligently and with great sensitivity to our families.

The Maas family