Violence against women focus of memorial workshop

By Lethbridge Herald on December 6, 2025.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Lethbridge Herald

Today marks the 36th anniversary of the Polytechnique Montreal’s tragedy where 14 female students were shot and killed by a deranged gunman, and the University of Lethbridge marked the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women with a workshop Friday.

Leah Webster, sexual and gender-based violence prevention coordinator, invited the campus community to explore how technology both amplifies harm and offers new tools for safety, advocacy and solidarity. 

“We are having this event here in the library because this is the space on campus that has been dedicated as the Women’s Peace Memorial Garden,” said Webster. 

The Memorial Garden includes a wall mural and a column mural depicting the names of all 14 victims, and it was painted by Claire Lahey last year while she was the Sexual and Gender Based Violence Prevention Student Ambassador. 

“It made sense that we hosted the event here in front of the mural to share in memorial and recognition of what has happened and what we’re still working towards,” said Webster. 

She said as time goes on, the gap between those who were already born at the time and remember the event, and those who were not born yet continues to grow. 

“The emotional distance increases as there are students on campus who weren’t born yet when this occurred. So, it’s important that we continue to bring awareness to this event as it shaped violence prevention in our country,” said Webster. 

She said the event also served as a recognition of the fact that there are still women on campus and in the community who are experiencing gender-based violence daily. 

When talking about this year’s 16 days of activism, Webster said the theme addressed digital harm because in the digital age people have access to technology and with that there are positives and negatives. 

“We see the positives like the safety, the support, which includes things like online reporting platforms, connection to community and support, ability to reach out to communities that are larger and geographical areas don’t necessarily matter,” said Webster. 

But she said the negatives also include things like an increase in digital violence within people who are using digital platforms or digital spaces, through cell phones and social media to perpetrate violence against women, girls and gender diverse populations. 

“We’re seeing an increase in the digital harm worldwide, but we’re also seeing an increase in resources available and access to resources for people who can access them via technology,” said Webster.