Supported by several organizations that fight against domestic violence, hundreds of demonstrators took part in the “Enough! Saturday afternoon in downtown Montreal. Survivors call for tougher measures to fight domestic violence in Quebec.
Posted at 3:20 p.m.
The rally was an initiative of Christine Giroux, activist and victim of domestic violence for 23 years. Her attacker was found guilty 17 times against her, notably for rape, forcible confinement and kidnapping, she confided in front of the crowd.
The survivor asks for social units in police stations to facilitate denunciations and more places in shelters.
Christine Giroux is also calling on the Quebec government to introduce more anti-relationship bracelets to its program launched last spring. According to her, the program limited to 1000 bracelets is not suitable to fight against feminicides.
“I ask that each repeat offender wear an electronic bracelet,” she told the demonstrators.
From the Place du Canada to the Jardins Gamelin, you could hear the demonstrators shouting “enough is enough”. “Being subjected to violence is not a choice”, could be read on their placards.
“I want to tell my story so that my story changes something. I don’t want to have experienced this for nothing, ”said Christine Giroux to The Press.
For four years, the survivor did not leave her house, traumatized by her attacker who is not eligible for the anti-reconciliation bracelet, having served his sentence in a federal institution. “You know I won’t stop until I kill you, that’s my goal,” his attacker wrote to him when he was released from prison three weeks ago.
The law states that only persons detained in a provincial prison can wear the bracelet. Thus, those who are incarcerated in federal prisons, because they are sentenced to a sentence of two years or more, are not eligible for the program.
It is as if there were two categories of victims. Does that mean that someone who has served 18 months in prison is less dangerous than someone who has served five and a half years?
Christine Giroux
Survivors also testified in place of Canada before taking to the streets. Speaker and survivor Selena Fortier reiterated that no one is immune to domestic violence. Moved, Kahoula Grissa, survivor and activist, added that “when you’re in there, it’s very difficult to get out of this relationship. We think about our safety and our children. »
Since the beginning of the year, SOS violence conjugale has counted 11 feminicides. “Counting down will not solve the problem, we have to move,” noted Madeleine Vachon, activist and domestic violence fighter.