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<\/a>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be an interactive art display where students can come and do a little bit of learning and participate by thinking about activism and what little steps that they can take to end violence against women,\u201d says Silden, \u201cand they\u2019re also encouraged to put it on paper and help to fill out the art display with these little pieces of paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bearing in mind that a lot of students at Camosun today were not even born in 1989, Silden emphasizes the importance of making December 6 also a recognition of all the violent events that have taken place since then. She says that student participation is an important part of raising awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t turn a blind eye to the fact that [gender-based violence] is still very much with us, it\u2019s still very real, and we do need to keep working to educate and to bring people in to some level of activism and awareness where they can no longer be a bystander,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Silden says that campaigns, especially after MeToo, have been asking people to use their voices and not to allow behaviours like bullying, harassment, or gender-based violence to take place. Still, she thinks it\u2019s unfortunate that some people still view gender equality as a threatening idea.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI do not think you need to dig too deep to find that [gender equality] is viewed as a zero-sum game,\u201d she says. \u201cSo if power is given up over here, by, usually, white men to anyone, they\u2019re going to lose, right? And that\u2019s not okay, that\u2019s not accurate; that\u2019s a very old idea and I think one that we need to sort of work against.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Silden says that the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report, released last June, contributed to highlighting the extraordinary violence facing Indigenous women in particular.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you know something you can\u2019t unknow it,\u201d says Silden. \u201cSo once we know that aboriginal women and girls are targeted and are abused and experience violence and victimization at the highest rates of anyone else in Canada, of any other group, how can we not actively work to reduce that and address that?\u201d<\/p>\n Recognizing how this can be a stressful time in the academic term, Silden hopes for students to participate to the extent that they can. Mostly, she hopes that the event will spread a message of encouragement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI would say to anyone\u2014you are not alone, and if you are experiencing violence in your life or if you know someone, you have a friend, a family member, you are not alone,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are supports, there are ways to get help. Nobody should have to suffer that.\u201d<\/p>\n