October 19, 2006
OTTAWAHer Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, will deliver the keynote address at the International Conference Violence Against Women: Diversifying Social Responses on Sunday, October 22, at 1:30 p.m., at the Doubletree Plaza Hotel Montreal Centre-Ville.
The conference, which will take place from October 22 to 24, will bring together researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and students from over 40 countries to share their knowledge, experiences and insights into violence against women and spousal abuse.
Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean worked for eight years, from 1979 to 1987, with Quebec shelters for battered women. She has taken in, supported and accompanied hundreds of women and children in crisis, while actively contributing to the establishment of a network of emergency shelters throughout Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. As governor general, she works with women's groups to give them a voice and encourage them to continue to fight to preserve what they have accomplished, to better their circumstances, and to achieve equality. During her regional visits across Canada, she meets with women's groups to share initiatives and actions taken in this country to promote the advancement of women and to fight all forms of violence against women.
This scientific conference is organized by the Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Family Violence and Violence Against Women (CRI-VIFF) and its university, institutional and community founding partners: the Université de Montréal, the Université Laval, the Association des CLSC et des CHSLD du Québec, and Relais‑femmes.
-30-
Media information
Lucie Brosseau
Rideau Hall Press Office
613-998-7280
www.gg.ca
Sophie Allard
Allard Hervieu Communication
514-808-9474
www.criviff.qc.ca/colloque
