Hon. Rosemary Vodrey (Minister responsible for the Status of Women): Madam Speaker, I have a statement for the House.

Madam Speaker, this morning I had the opportunity to attend a sunrise breakfast in remembrance of the young women killed at Ecole polytechnique in Montreal on December 6, 1989. Each year on this date we pause to remember the 14 young women killed in an act of mindless violence. The shock and the horror do not subside over time. Once again, our hearts go out to the families and friends of those young women who died in 1989. We also remember and honour the Manitoba women who died as a result of violence and express our deepest sympathy to their families and friends.

Domestic violence is a serious issue, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve the system for the protection of women. Following the tragic deaths of Rhonda and Roy Lavoie, a commission of inquiry was convened which provided important recommendations for the protection of Manitoba women.

Our government moved swiftly to implement that commission's recommendations. An implementation committee was established, chaired by Dr. Jane Ursel, co-director of the Manitoba Research Centre on Family Violence and Violence Against Women. The implementation committee will work with community groups to co-ordinate the implementation of both a short-term and a long-term plan.

To further help implement the commission's recommendations, we have committed an additional $1.7 million in funding to help Manitoba families caught up in the tragedy of domestic violence. We realize that more remains to be done, and we cannot do it alone. All of us have a role to play in stopping the cycle of violence: government, community groups, business groups and individuals. By working together, we can ensure domestic violence is not tolerated by anyone in our communities.

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We are committed to working with Manitobans to end the destructive cycle of violence. Carved in the stone of the memorial garden in the legislative grounds in remembrance of women who have died as a result of family violence is a pledge to end violence against women.

I urge all Manitobans to join in that pledge. I ask each one of you now to join me in remembering those Montreal women who were victims of violence, as well as Manitoba women who have been victims of violence.

I would also like to invite you to join the vigil to be held tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the memorial garden on the east side of the legislative grounds. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Ms. Diane McGifford (Osborne): I thank the minister for her statement. I want to assure the minister that we on this side of the House join hands in the struggle to end violence against women. I trust our commitment is most recently evident in our community work with women and with women's groups and will be apparent in a report that I will table later today.

Tomorrow evening, on December 6, the 14 women murdered in Montreal on December 6, 1989, will be remembered and named at a ceremony in the legislative grounds as the minister has already indicated. The ceremony, as she has indicated, begins at seven, and all members of the public are invited. I do ask you to join me, along with the minister, at that ceremony. I will be particularly honoured if you join us, because I have had the honour to be asked to be a speaker.

I know we here today remember the 14 women murdered in Montreal, murdered simply because they were women. I know too that we think of the survivors, friends, families, lovers, and that we send these people our sympathies. The violence of December 6 forever marks and diminishes our lives, but most especially those of victims, their families and intimate friends.

Today, standing in this Legislature of 56 members, I am aware that since 1989, 81 Manitoba women have been murdered by their partners, former partners, boyfriends or men who considered themselves to be boyfriends. I repeat this figure, Madam Speaker: 81 women. That is the whole of this Legislature and 25 additional persons. Just gone, murdered, often after years of brutality and abuse.

Madam Speaker, one of my favourite poets, Margaret Atwood, writes in her poem Spelling that a word after a word after a word is power. I think too that a name after a name after a name is power, and therefore for the purpose of evoking the power of names and words, as we work for justice and with the purpose of affording these dead women some respect, I will name the Manitoba women murdered since 1989.

1989, Christine Jacks, Charlotte Brooks, Connie Stevens, Linda Robinson, Mary-Ann Reid.

1990, Shirley Ruth Androniwich, Bridgette Grenier, Gloria Heart, Stella Jaskiewicz, Isabellea King, Teresa Lori Murdock, Iris Muzylouski, Joyce Rae, Merle Ruby Owen, Martha Trout, Carol Watson, Desiree Watson.

1991, Carla Caldwell, Karen Rosemary Cameron, Victoria Irene Cook, Diane Marie Hamm, Clara Jane Harper, Dorothy Bernice Mildred James, Marilyn Jensen, Glenda Morriseau, Sarah Phillips, Elizabeth Anne Dianne Siemens, Marilyn Swampy, Sylvia Anne McKay.

1992, Donna Madelaine Ramsay, Noella Wilma Balanger, Kimberly Anne Jones, Shafquat Ahmad, Angie Francine Levesque, Elizabeth Saltis, Carol Sue Pascal, Marisa Duck.

1993, Emerine Bella Spence, Olive Barbara Keeper, Terri-Lynn Babb, Sherry Lee Paul, Marjorie McConnell, Tina Franks, Marjorie Henderson, Victoria Jean Hornbrook.

1994, Sureta Khan, Barbara Ann Munro, Stephanie Edwards, Jamie Nora McGuire, Marilyn Hyrchuk, Kelly Lynn Stewner, Debra Catherine Redhead, Darlene Marie Weselowski, Laura Faye Coleman, Viola Anne Flett, Michell Darlene Harkness, Sarah Kelly, Marjorie Sokalski, Marilyn Diane Heath.

1995, Rhonda Lavoie, Dawn Maris Brunsel.

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1996, Nelita Deborja, Jolene Einarson, Dorothy Martin, Barbara Pelletier, Eva Emanual, Sonia Ross, Andrea Christine Attwood, Amanda Cook, Ester Johns-Wride, Donna Durnam, Edna Chartrand, Mary Nancy Leveque.

1997, Jeanette Marjorie Mercer, Angela Clare Harper, Carol Marlene Hastings, Vanessa Lynn Prince, Beverley Vitiello, Roberta Lee.

Madam Speaker, in remembrance of these 81 murdered Manitoba women, I request that the House rise and observe a minute of silence.