National Farmers Union urges action to end gender-based violence

(Perth, ON) — On Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Gender Based Violence, the National Farmers Union (NFU) remembers the 14 young women who were brutally murdered at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal in a heinous act of gender-based violence on December 6, 1989. The NFU recognizes the disproportionate levels of violence directed against women and LGBTQ2 individuals, particularly indigenous women and girls, women of colour, women with disabilities and women living in rural and remote areas.

We join in denouncing gender-based violence in Canada and around the world by participating in 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the annual international campaign from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25) until World Human Rights Day (December 10). These 16 Days are an opportunity to unite and take action as individuals and communities to eliminate the violence faced by women, and girls.

We are demanding an end to gender based violence, as well as environmental violence and economic violence, as these are inextricably linked. With our partners in La Via Campesina, the international peasant farmers organization, we believe the violence experienced by rural women is related to exploitive production methods, and that within the context of patriarchy, gender-based violence is used to dispossess women food producers. Women have sown the struggle for Food Sovereignty, and are the caretakers of ancestral knowledge with respect to food production and the conservation of biodiversity, seed, and water. The NFU honours the lives of the many female land and water defenders who have been injured or lost their lives while working to protect the lands that feed us all.

We call on all governments to act now to eliminate acts of femicide and other gender-based violence. We call for funding for women’s shelters, interval houses, crisis intervention services and other agencies that support women and LGBTQ2 individuals affected by gender-based violence and which are working to eliminate gender-based violence. We encourage everyone to join today’s vigils and actions in their communities to honour those who have suffered or died as a result of such violence, and to continue to work towards wiping out any and all forms of gender-based violence every day.

– 30 –

For more information:
Coral Sproule, NFU Women’s President: (613) 464-8945

If you or someone you know is in danger from gender-based violence, help is available from the resources listed at https://www.nfu.ca/help/