For Tannys Laughren, the recent death of Anne Julien-Guérin highlights the reasons behind the 32nd annual Take Back the Night event.
Julien-Guérin, a teacher’s aide with École secondaire catholique L’Horizon, died Sept. 2 after being stabbed in her Val Caron home. Her husband, Denis Guérin, has been charged with second-degree murder in her death.
The purpose of Take Back the Night, organized by the Sudbury Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, is to show that women have the right to walk the streets at night without being harmed, as well as to live without violence.
Laughren, a board member with the Sudbury Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, said many are unaware that some women live with violence in their lives.
“It’s unfortunate that a murder has to be reported for people to remember that women aren’t always safe,” she said.
“Statistics certainly lead us to believe (that women are the targets of violence). I think that women often can be disenfranchised because of economic stature or a situation where there are children involved.”
Janet Lewis (left) and her 17-year-old daughter, Emilie, were among the participants in the 32nd annual Take Back the Night event Sept. 16. Photo by Heidi Ulrichsen.
More than 100 people attended the event held last weekend, which involved a rally and information fair at Tom Davies Square and a march through the downtown.
Those attending the rally were entertained by the Waabishki Mkwaa Singers (an aboriginal women’s drum group), belly dancers with M’s Joy of Dance and singers Cecilia Mallon and Jessica Crowe.
Several speakers also told the crowd about how their lives had been impacted by violence.
One woman, who did not want her name printed, read a French-language poem in memory of Julien-Guérin during the rally.
“The poem said that if we would have known, we could have helped her,” she told Northern Life after the rally. “She’s going to be missed, and she’s an angel in the sky now.”
The woman, who said she has been abused, said she writes poetry to express her feelings.
She said she has received help from the Centre Victoria pour femmes, a Sudbury-based agency which provides services to francophone women.
It’s unfortunate that a murder has to be reported for people to remember that women aren’t always safe.
Tannys Laughren,
board member, Sudbury Sexual Assault Crisis Centre
“They’ve changed my thinking, and they brought me back my courage,” she said. “They made me willing to change a lot of things in my life which have affected me. They brought me into another little world, where it’s a good world.”
Janet Lewis attended the event with her 17-year-old daughter, Emilie.
“I’m here because I have been abused,” she said.
“I don’t want the same thing to happen to my daughter. I want her to grow up and learn that she can say no. If things do happen where she does get abused, there are places she can go, and people she can talk to.”
Pauline Guy Bishop said she was abused, and attended the event to provide support to others in the same situation.
“There’s a lot of people like me,” she said. “More people like me need to speak out, and not just cover it and don’t say anything to the public because it’s a family thing. The best thing to do is to be open.”
Tonja Bowman, a nursing student on placement at a booth set up by Sudbury Regional Hospital’s domestic violence and sexual assault centre, was one of those providing information to participants before the event.
The hospital service provides care to adult survivors of domestic abuse, and adult and child survivors of sexual violence, providing services such as forensic documentation and photography, counselling, and emergency medical intervention.
She said she’s lucky enough not to have any friends or family members who have been affected by violence. Bowman said her eyes have been opened to the issue through her placement.
“I think this event is important so that women are able to have a voice,” she said. “They’re able to be here with other women who may have had the same situation, and know that they’re not alone.”
Denise Fraser, a crime prevention officer with the Greater Sudbury Police Service, also had a booth set up at the event.
She had a few words of advice for those who are victims of domestic violence.
“We urge anyone, if at any time you find yourself in that type of relationship, to get away as soon as possible,” she said.
“Men and women both can be in an abusive relationships. An abusive relationship doesn’t necessarily mean physical violence. It could be mental abuse. It could be neglect. It could be a number of things.”
