Newsroom

Statements

Statement by the Honourable Beverley J Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, on the occasion of November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

The following is the text of a statement by the Honourable Beverley J Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, on the occasion of November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

OTTAWA -- Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we pause to reflect on the far too many women and girls worldwide for whom violence and the threat of violence are a daily reality.

Violence against women affects us all. As the recent Statistics Canada publication, Measuring Measuring Violence against Women: Statistical Trends 2006 makes clear, it crosses social, economic and racial divides as well as geographic boundaries. Canadians need look no further than their own communities, and in some cases, their own families, for evidence of violence against women.

This Government is taking action on violence against women. Among recent initiatives, we have introduced Bill C-9, legislation that would end the use of conditional sentences for serious offences. This legislation would ensure that those who commit serious crimes, including violent and sexual offences, and offences against children would be ineligible for conditional sentencing. Bill C-9 will protect Canadian girls and women while following through on our commitment to get tough on crime.

Canada's new government, through CIDA, is also doing important work on violence against women around the world. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Canada has been supporting a United Nations effort to assist the survivors of sexual violence in a country where tens of thousands of civilians, mostly women and girls, have been sexually assaulted or tortured over the course of more than 10 years of conflict.

We have also supported a project to strengthen the social, political and legal conditions for women in Guatemala, Peru and Colombia, where many women have suffered the effects of gender-based violence.

Today, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, let us renew our commitment to countering violence against women, in every part of this country and throughout the world.