Yesterday, Dec 6 2009, marked the 20th anniversary of the shooting rampage of Marc Lepine at Universite de Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique, when Lepine killed 14 female students and injured 13 others before turning the gun on himself. The reason for his rampage? Anger; at the fact that women were interested in working in “non-traditional” workplaces, those that had been traditionally reserved for men. Anger at the feminists that had started this movement.

As a result of that horrific event, Dec 6 was designated Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. Yesterday, at one of the many memorial services intended to mark this tragic day, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper commented that “we should all take time to remember and reaffirm our commitment to continue working to protect the lives, dignity and equality of all women.”

It is difficult to see how Prime Minster Harper and others in positions of power are in fact reaffirming a commitment to protect the lives, dignity and equality of women. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case. This year members of Prime Minister Harper’s Conservative party, along with other MPs, voted to kill the gun registry legislation that had been passed in response to the “Montreal massacre.”

The reality is that violence against women is a global epidemic which is currently affecting one third of all women world wide. Estimates are that one in four women will experience violence from a current or former spouse or boyfriend in her lifetime. Repressive regimes and ideologies are increasingly rising up to challenge women’s basic human rights and freedoms.

Here is British Columbia we have seen funding and support for women’s justice programs, in particular legal aid, slashed. The current cuts come on top of the 40% reduction to legal aid funding which occurred between 2002 and 2004. Those who engage in violence against women are empowered as a result of the lack of available legal recourse for their victims. Those women and children who are the most vulnerable to violence will now be at greater risk.

Twenty years may have passed since the Montreal Massacre, but unfortunately, the world has not become a safer or more respectful place for women. What this anniversary really highlights the fact that the massacre of women and their rights continues.