Campaign spreads message against domestic violence

THUNDER BAY – Peyton Gribble believes violence against women is never acceptable.

He was one of the students at Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute students leading the school’s White Ribbon campaign on Friday, raising awareness and spreading education about ending gender-based violence.

“This is the featured generation and if we don’t stop this now it’s just going to keep going on and on and on and a never ending circle,” he said.

The campaign was organized by the Westgate Social Justice League, which collected donations for white ribbon pins and distributed brochures and other information.

Staff organizer Carlos Santander-Maturana said the campaign has been run at the school for more than a decade.

The campaign is led mostly be men to commit to stopping gender-based violence, particularly against women and girls with the ribbon symbolizes the Dec. 6, 1989 Ecole Polytechnique shooting in Montreal where 25-year-old Marc Lepine shot 28 people, killing 14 women.

“Violence against women is a societal problem that affects everyone and it’s important for us to raise awareness for young women and men to be more assertive and to keep violence away from their doorstep,” he said.

This year’s campaign turned to social media with students and staff taking photos holding a frame pledging to stand up against gender-based violence.

It’s a new way of engaging students, Santander-Maturana said.

“Young minds are more in tune with Twitter and sending a picture into their own personal phone and Facebook pages and so on,” he said. “We decided it would probably be better to tweet a message of support, a pledge of support to end violence against women.”