Public Education Committee of the YRVAWCC

Link to official website: www.yrvawcc.ca

Mandate:
This standing committee of the York Region Violence Against Women Coordinating Committee is responsible for educating the public on the issue of Woman Abuse in all its forms and thereby, assisting in the task of prevention and reduction of Woman Abuse, in accordance with the York Region Violence Against Women Coordinating Committee’s (YRVAWCC) Terms of References

Current Members (last updated June 2007)

  • Victim Services of York Region
  • Sandgate
  • Yellow Brick House
  • York Region LGBT Community Outreach Project
  • Women’s Support Network
  • York Region Health Services

2006 Events

  • November – Woman Abuse Prevention Month

    • To mark the Woman Abuse Prevention month and the November 25th International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women, PEC members drafted and submitted a Letter to the Editor to the Era Banner and a Press Release for all York Region Newsgroup papers. In order to reach even more members of the York Region community, a small flyer was created to share the 10 steps from the Step It Up Ontario campaign from OAITH. This flyer was distributed through select Body Shops, Shopper Drug Marts and Roots Canada stores over the weekend of November 25th and it also highlighted community resources for those who are affected by woman abuse.

    • Link to Press Release and the Letter to the Editor

  • December 6th – National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women

    • Every year a vigil is held for the 14 female engineering students who were murdered in their Montreal University class by Marc Lepine on December 6th, 1989. This year the event was held at Unionville HS with guest speaker Dr. Mavis Morton. Dr. Morton is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at York University and she gave an informative and inspiring speech after Spotlight Theatre students gave attendees a brief sketch of the lives of the 14 female engineering students. The evening ended with a slideshow presentation containing pictures of the 14 women and a moment of silence. This is an annual event.

2007 Events

  • April 24th – International Women’s Day celebration

    • March 8th is International Women’s Day. Every year the Public Education Committee enjoys using this day as a celebration of the accomplishments of women, especially in the fight to promote gender equality and end violence against women. This year the high school students of our region were the target audience. The event was held at Sacred Heart Catholic High School in Newmarket. The event was originally planned for March 5th had to be rescheduled due to difficult weather. The event was comprised of an Amazing Race – in which students travelled between six different ‘continents’ to learn about the contributions of women to ending violence against women – small discussion groups between the students and front-line workers in the VAW sector, an interactive quiz to understand the lives of women internationally, and a self-defence demonstration by Nora Thomson.

    • Link to flyer

  • May – Sexual Assault Awareness Month

    • To recognize May Sexual Assault Awareness month PEC members drafted and submitted a Letter to the Editor of the Era Banner and partnered with LCBO stores of York Region to distribute information over the May Long Weekend surrounding sexual assault.

    • Link to Letter to the Editor and flyer

Upcoming Events

Every year the Public Education Committee organizes around four meaningful dates:

  1. March 8th – International Women’s Day
  2. May – Sexual Assault Awareness month
  3. November – Woman Abuse Prevention month
  4. December 6th – National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women