The City of Brockville has proclaimed November “Shine the Light Month” to help mark woman abuse prevention month in Ontario.
Purple flags are being flown at city hall and the Brockville police station as part of the province-wide initiative to raise awareness about violence against women.
“Violence is pervasive in our community… physical violence, sexual violence and cyber-violence among our young,” said Charlene Catchpole, executive director of Interval House, a women’s shelter serving the Leeds Grenville area.
The city is hoping to bring more attention to that type of abuse, as Brockville police report a spike in sexual offences.
“Last year we had 26 incidents of sexual offences reported, and we’re up to 43 this year,” said Chief of Police Scott Fraser.
Laurie Bourne-MacKeigan, executive director of Brockville’s Assault and Care Centre, says those numbers may be on the rise because more people are coming forward following high-profile cases in the media.
“I think with the increase in technology, we’re seeing maybe that there’s increase in assaults, but we’re also seeing that people are coming forward more,” she explained.
Statistics show that one in three Canadian women will experience some kind of sexual assault before the age of 16, according to Interval House.
“As women, I think at some point in our lives … we have been a victim to somebody’s unwanted gesture, comment, touch at any point — and that story for all of us is very different,” Catchpole said.
The purple flag marking Shine the Light is the first flag to fly alongside the Canadian flag and the Brockville police’s own flag at the station. Officials say they hope women across the city will see the new marker as a symbol of support.
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