Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the past three years V-Day North has been working in Yellowknife to run fundraisers for and increase awareness about the issue of violence against women in the Northwest Territories and around the world.
V-Day North is a grassroots movement and over the past two campaigns they’ve raised over $25,000, 90 percent of which has stayed here in the Northwest Territories in the form of donations to the Alison McAteer House and the Centre for Northern Families. For that I applaud them.
The Alison McAteer House and the Centre for Northern Families are organizations that offer unique emergency counselling and safety services to women and children in need of shelter and are sorely needed in our Territory.
The additional 10 percent of their funds raised are donated to the annual V-Day Spotlight Campaign. The 2011 Spotlight Campaign is for women and girls of Haiti, with a focus on social advocacy, safe shelter and grassroots economic sustainability in the wake of the devastating earthquake of 2010.
This year V-Day North has an ambitious fundraising goal of $25,000. They have been organizing events since December and will finish off this year with the play “A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and a Prayer.” It’s being held at the Top Knight on March 10th and 12th and I encourage Members to get tickets at For Women Only.
We should all be striving for the day that we don’t need to have organizations like this in our community; a day when violence against women is over. We need to start looking at the big picture and find ways to resolve violence before it begins. Eliminating poverty, tackling addictions like drugs and alcohol, and increasing education rates in the Territory are a few ways that we can reduce violence against women.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
