Dear Friends,
We are very pleased to be launching this year's YWCA Week Without Violence®.
The YWCA Week Without Violence® is a nationwide effort to unite all Canadians against the violence that exists in our communities.
The YWCA Week Without Violence® encourages people and communities to identify realistic and sustainable alternatives to violence. The support and involvement of schools, politicians, law enforcement agencies, faith groups and national and local community organizations helps create safer places to live, work and play.
The following quote from one of the thousands of school participants from across Canada describes how the YWCA Week Without Violence® impacted them:
I didn't watch anything violent. I didn't watch violent videos. I didn't play any violent video games. I didn't read any violent articles. I found this week very hard because there is so much violence on T.V. and in the world, all around us. Everyday, there is something violent happening. (C.H. Grade 5)
Some of the other activities that affected the lives of people across Canada as a result of the YWCA Week Without Violence® were a native drumming circle of friendship in Kamloops, a youth day in Brockville focusing on replacing violence with sports, discussions on racism to eliminate discrimination in Lethbridge, a mask-making workshop in Vancouver to empower women.
Violence in all its forms undermines our quality of life. Because violence reaches into our cities and towns, our schools, our homes, and our work places, it affects all of us. No matter where we live, violence and fear have become part of our everyday lives. To change this we need to take action against violence - to speak out against it and to change and influence the values and attitudes that affect violence. We can begin by imagining a life without violence- we can work to make it reality.
Let's seize this opportunity to participate in the YWCA Week Without Violence® so that we can work toward creating safer communities for all Canadians. Our lives are depending on it.
