Last December, Lyda Fuller and Ingrid Kitsch participated in a moment of silence at a candlelight vigil to mark the 1989 massacre of 14 women in Montreal. A vigil will be held at noon today at the legislative assembly. - NNSL file photo Violent facts - Between 1991 and 1999, 1,872 Canadian women were murdered. - For every 1,000 women in the NWT, 20 checked themselves into a women's shelter in 1997/98. That compares to four women per 1,000 nationally. - Between 1992 and 1997, there was a 12 per cent increase of reported sexual abuse incidents in the NWT. - In 1999/2000, 506 women and 448 children checked into a shelter in the NWT. Sexual assaults in the NWT 1990-23; 1991-11; 1992-36; 1993-74; 1994-36; 1995-27; 1996-25; 1997-56; 1998-18; 1999-11.

On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 female students were murdered by Marc Lepine at L'ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.

But that is just a tiny indication of the pain and suffering experienced by thousands of women all across the country every year, many say.

A report released by Status of Women Canada on Dec. 3, entitled Assessing Violence Against Women: A Statistical Profile, indicates aboriginal women are eight times more likely to be murdered by their spouse than non-aboriginal women.

In Yellowknife territorial court, week after week, the docket is full of spousal assault and sexual assault charges.

Judges, however, in this territory have zero tolerance for domestic violence and frequently hand down jail terms, even for a first offence.

At noon today, the YWCA will host a candlelight vigil in the Great Hall of the legislative assembly to remember the 14 women murdered in Montreal and all women who have suffered violence at the hands of men.

Today is a reminder of how violence can affect each and every one of us. The YWCA is asking us to "First mourn. Then work for change."

Barbara Saunders, executive director of the Status of Women Council of the NWT, said the Northwest Territories has seen more violent crimes against women this year.

"There's more violence against youth. In the NWT there were 19 reported incidents of child female (child abuse) victims and 10 male victims in the year 2000 and 80 per cent of sexual assault victims are girls under 18," she said.

NWT report expected

A research report on family violence in the NWT will be released by the Coalition Against Family Violence on Monday.

The group is comprised of representatives from non-government organizations, the RCMP, and the GNWT departments of justice, health and social services and education, culture and employment.

Following the completion of 60 surveys of various agencies and individuals across the territory, the coalition developed 42 recommendations to develop an action plan on family violence in the Northwest Territories.

Saunders said throughout the year she has heard of many violent attacks against women in the territory and across Canada.

That tells her society still sees women as inferior to their male counterparts.

"While we commemorate and mourn, we look at all the women that have been killed in Montreal and Vancouver -- they (Vancouver sex-trade workers) lived different lives but it still tells the same story that women are targets of violence," she said.

Saunders said she believes awareness and education about family violence have been improving and encouraging more women and children to speak out. But there's a long road ahead.

"Attitude-wise, I think we have a long way to go. The (machismo) attitude is still quite strong and representative of the values held by many people, that women are not worth as much as men and don't belong in certain jobs or places or roles.

"And that's the big one to get over," she said.

The YWCA operates a 12-bed shelter for battered women and children from all over the NWT.

It has had an average occupancy rate of 80 per cent this. At one point over the summer, occupancy reached 98 per cent.

"So that's really high and we know that there are lots of women out there that don't come to us because they're silenced around speaking out about violence that's going on in their community and their lives," said Val Liske, director of family violence programming for the YWCA .

Liske, who is also the director of the Women and Children's Healing and Recovery Program, said everyone should mourn for those affected by violence.

"It's an unfortunate situation that women are targeted for violence and it's certainly going to take a community effort to do something about this now."