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(Truro) - On the anniversary of the December 6 massacre in Montreal, the president of CUPE Nova Scotia says the provincial government needs to take a stand and stop the abuse of women and their children.
Danny Cavanagh says, “Canadians from coast to coast should spend some time this weekend remembering CUPE member Maryse Laganière and the thirteen other women who were killed in the 1989 massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal.
“This tragic act has served to galvanize our resolve to put an end to violence against women in all its forms,” says Cavanagh.
“A great place to start here in Nova Scotia would be to adequately fund our women’s shelters.  It is  appalling, for instance,  that there were 1,269 admissions of women and their children to shelters across Nova Scotia between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008.
“We need to work with government, with our members and within our communities to educate people and to teach people how to stop abuse. Sadly, 85% of women residing in shelters on April 16, 2008, were victims of abuse,” says Cavanagh.
Cavanagh says we all have a responsibility to work towards solving this problem through increased awareness and changing our mindset about how we deal with it as a society.