Kitchener, Tuesday, February 26, 2008
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Thank you for your kind invitation to be with you today.
Let me first pay a tribute to the famous French philosopher, Simone de Beauvoir, who would have been a hundred years old this year.
I still remember how eager my mother was to introduce me to The Second Sex, a book that changed for ever the way we look at the roles of women and the stereotypes in society.
What a thought-provoking book! A powerful call for freedom.
So what is the legacy of this intellectual, of this daring woman who opened the world's eyes to the plight of women?
I believe that she left behind a message that is as powerful today as it was then: you can make what you will of your life, whether you are a woman or a man. This, above all, is the message my mother wanted to pass on to me.
Simone de Beauvoir put out a call to freedom. The freedom to be oneself. It was a call that women around the world heard as an expression of hope and emancipation.
In her essay The Ethics of Ambiguity, Simone de Beauvoir wrote that we should respect the freedom of others as we do our own.
This is why we have come here today, to attend this conference on violence against women.
Because each of us, women and men together in this room, believes profoundly that the right to be free and safe–at home, in our neighbourhoods, in our communities–is fundamental.
Even here in Canada, a country we consider progressive and egalitarian, the statistics about the number of female victims of violence, attacked in their own homes, in the street, at school, at work, humiliated, terrorized, continue to be alarming.
Though many cases are reported, and sadly perceived by some as soft news, thousands of women still face this horrendous reality every day.
Even here in Canada, a country we consider progressive and egalitarian, the statistics about the number of female victims of violence continue to be alarming. This is totally unacceptable.
Which is why I have made violence against women a priority and a commitment.
Which is why I spent many years of my previous life accompanying women who had suffered many forms of violence. Women and children whose physical and psychological wounds ran deep.
Which is why I also helped to establish a network of shelters for them.
I want you to know that I stand with you in this fight to eradicate all forms of violence against women.
Barely a month ago, I was in Vancouver and stopped to visit a women's centre in the heart of the Downtown Eastside.
I met a group of women who, when describing the ordeal they had endured, told me, "We are survivors."
One after another, they told me their story.
It was a story I have heard too often over the years from women I will never forget, their words still clear in my mind.
It is a story that, sadly, echoes from city to city, community to community.
Unfortunately, even the youngest members of our society are not safe.
Teenaged girls told me about aggressions in their schools.
Have we not done everything in the hope that our daughters will escape such a fate? In the hope that our sons would behave differently?
These tragic stories are played out in the one place where we should all be most free. A place where we should feel protected, loved and safe. A place that for these women and girls has become one of utter restriction, manipulation and aggression.
Still behind closed doors.
Still away from prying eyes.
Still in secret.
The secret of hearts and minds.
How many women still dare not share their part of that story?
How many have retreated into the silence that isolates them further, holding them captive?
We don't see them.
We don't hear them.
But they are there, taking the full brunt of the abuse.
Our greatest challenge is to ensure that we can break the silence as soon as possible. Because the silence of those who endure simply fuels the violence and confines them to the most unrelenting solitude.
How are we to meet this challenge?
Through prevention, of course, and awareness. But also by creating a protective circle around these women and their children, as you have done here at the Catholic Family Counselling Centre, through the Family Violence Project of Waterloo Region.
All of the services–community, legal, police–are found here under one roof. That's what I call a protective circle.
This protective circle reminds me of the healing circle of this country's Aboriginal women.
I have had the privilege of experiencing healing circles, and I know what they represent on the often difficult path to rebirth and renewed control over one's own life.
It is an internal path, one that often twists and turns, where feelings of shame, guilt, uncertainty and extreme vulnerability become intermingled.
When a woman breaks free from violence, she must find the doors open to her; she must be taken seriously and protected by judicial and police authorities, by those who administer care, by everyone.
I have seen women whose inner spark has been brutally snuffed out come back to life when at last they feel safe, confident, supported.
Women like Naomi Judd, who are rebuilding themselves from the inside out. Women like Carolyn Thomas, who are finding the courage to speak out, to denounce domestic violence and help other women find a way out.
Proud and courageous women who are no longer victims but healers and liberators.
"You can be anything you want," Naomi Judd has said, "but first you have to understand what's standing in your way." This sounds so much like what Simone de Beauvoir said, so many years ago.
She once said that if we are to leave our mark on the world, we must first stand together.
Take a look around: violence against women is not just the concern of a few. It is mobilizing people to act, regardless of sex, age or area of involvement.
Because violence against women and girls is a problem that affects us all.
Recognizing this fact today is a sign of hope.
