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Silent Witness Project honours victims of domestic violence
Life-size
silhouettes commemorate women
killed by husbands, partners or acquaintances
Ottawa - At a meeting of the NUPGE Advisory Committee on
Women’s Issues, a guest speaker from the New Brunswick Silent Witness
Project, Deborah Doherty, addressed the committee on the Silent
Witness Project, which focuses on the issue of domestic violence.
The Project is a travelling exhibit of life-size red wooden
silhouettes. Each represents a New Brunswick woman who was killed by a
husband, partner or acquaintance. Because these women no longer have a
voice, the silhouettes are called the Silent Witnesses.
Each figure bears a chest-plate engraved with the name of a woman who
once lived and worked among us. A few silhouettes are anonymous,
reflecting unsolved, or uncounted, murders of women. Ms. Doherty
advised that through research and information sharing, the goal is to
hopefully craft a silhouette to honour every New Brunswick woman who
has died tragically as a result of domestic violence since 1990.
Ms. Doherty explained the objectives of the Silent Witness Project,
the roles of provincial and national organizations, the identifying of
emerging domestic violence issues (public education, action and
advocacy) and the possibilities for a Canada-wide Silent Witness
Project.
The ultimate goal of the Project is to help raise public awareness
about domestic violence. It also has the potential to help families,
friends and communities heal following the murder of a woman at the
hands of her partner and to help save the lives of other women.
The New Brunswick Silent Witness Project was the first in Canada,
launched on Nov. 7, 2002. Since that time, participants in the Project
now include the provinces of New Brunswick (NBUPPE/NUPGE), Prince
Edward Island (PEIUPSE/NUPGE), Nova Scotia (NSGEU/NUPGE), Manitoba (MGEU/NUPGE),
Newfoundland and Labrador (NAPE/NUPGE) and Alberta (Alberta Council of
Women’s Shelters). Saskatchewan (SGEU/NUPGE) has been networking with
many of the Women’s Shelters to inquire about joining the Project.
NUPGE components in each of these provinces have been working in
partnership with coalitions and grassroots organizations (such as the
Red Cross, RCMP, John Howard, Society transition homes, family violence
research centers and victims groups).
Working with these groups is vital in determining the identities of
victims, as well as interacting with family members for input,
approval of a ‘silent witness’ silhouette, the outcome of court
proceedings and so on.
The Mission Statement of the Silent Witness Project is to promote
peace, healing and responsibility in adult relationships in order to
eliminate domestic murders. The ‘vision’ is to promote successful
community-based domestic violence reduction efforts in order to reach
zero domestic murders by 2010.
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) both
supports the mission and vision of the Silent Witness Project and
works diligently with all coalitions to reach this goal. NUPGE
Web posted by NUPGE:
29 November 2005
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