Tragedy wears size 10 women's shoes.
When the murdered women of Canada are remembered, advocates use footwear to illustrate what the public has lost. An empty pair of shoes stands as a reminder of gender-based violence.
In Prince George, organizers of the annual Shoe Memorial say there are so many victims to acknowledge that one pair of shoes actually represents 10 females who lost their life due to gender violence, and they are in need of dozens of shoes to show that.
"We are honoring the memory of the women and their families by attaching name cards to each pair of donated shoes, which will represent the women who have been killed in violence," said Amanda Prince, Hadih House co-ordinator and one of the local organizers of the Shoe Memorial. "We gather names from women who passed away in the city, as well as names from the Highway of Tears victims and many others who have died because of violence."
The timing of the yearly event is also symbolic. It runs Dec. 3 to Dec. 6 to coincide with the massacre at Montreal Polytechnique in 1989 when a gunman murdered 14 women in a mass shooting, simply because they were women studying to be engineers.
"Since then, Dec. 6 has been declared a national day of remembrance and action on violence against women. It is the Canadian day of mourning for women who have met with violent deaths."
The sets of empty shoes are displayed prominently at participating businesses and agencies around the city. A launch event will be held Dec. 3 at the UNBC Wintergarden from 2 to 4 p.m.
Local organizers have identified 852 women across the nation who fit onto their list of victims to be remembered.
Anyone who can donate a pair of women's shoes (any size, style and condition) is asked to drop them off at Hadih House (2105 Pine Street) anytime before Thursday. They will then be distributed, in groups of 10 pairs (each pair emblematic of 10 people), to locations around Prince George.
