Prince Albert says no more violence against women

On Friday, Prince Albert showed they want to end violence against women through a march in the Gateway Mall followed by speeches and music.

“Today honours these women, specifically from Montreal, but everyday should be like this, every day we should wake up and look to see who’s missing and then go out and pass the stories around,” said Donna Lerat, who spoke about her struggle to stay alive.

Lerat said after being faced with a life or death situation she decided she “didn’t want to be another story.”

“It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, there had to be something different, there had to be something better,” she said.

No one wants to be prostituting on the street, but that was her only option at the time, said Lerat.

“I just felt that’s all I had…to offer because it was taken so freely when I was younger,” she said. But she knows now that there is a better life out there, “if me and 100 other women can leave the street and be totally happy (you can too.)”

Unfortunately, Lerat isn’t alone in how she felt. Troy Cooper, Chief of Police for Prince Albert said there is a large number of people, especially in Prince Albert, who are impacted by domestic violence each year.

“In our community we know that about 2,000 times every year we get a phone call to attend a house where there is a domestic violence incident,” he said. “We want to be able to go in and prevent that from occurring again.”

Police are a critical part of stopping violence, said Cooper. But Lerat said women should also take care of themselves.

“I think everybody in the community plays a role when it comes to violence against women,” Cooper said.

“If they’re on the street they should learn preventative measures,” Lerat said. “We’re all at risk in the end, if they don’t get us [First Nations women] all first they’re going to get you guys [other races of women] too,” she said.

Kathy Thorpe attended the march. She feels very strongly that abuse shouldn’t happen to any women no matter what type of woman you are.

“Women should be treated with respect and dignity, doesn’t matter what colour, what we look like, what race we are,” she said. “Every women should be treated with equal rights and not to be treated with abuse.”

Lerat also spoke to the importance of men’s choices and how they should handle situations with women.

“For my brothers, prove that you’re a true warrior instead of lifting your hand walk away,” she said.

According to Lerat things are changing in Saskatchewan. She was emotional as she said how proud she was that men showed up for the event, helping stop violence against women.

Cooper said city police are looking into their own methods for dealing with ending domestic violence by working with groups like enditnow.

“It’s a community-based program to end domestic violence, were working with groups like that to make sure that the service we deliver is appropriate for domestic violence,” he said. “When anybody’s victimized it takes a lot of courage to come forward and report that offence.”

Women are very important in Cooper’s eyes and he believes we need to live in a society where this is recognized.

“We need to return to that idea that women are part of the solution, they’re part of the community, they’re important and they’re valuable,” he said. “It’s not okay to think of women any different…gender shouldn’t be a risk factor to violence.”

If faced with a situation where you have witnessed a violent act Cooper said there is a few things you should do.

“Call 9-11, try not to get involved in the situation other than to not ignore it, we don’t want a passive community,” he said.

A speaker at Friday’s event also suggested “staying at a safe distance and asking ‘is everything ok?’”

Cooper said this is a great response because you are staying safe but not ignoring the situation.

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow

by Kayla Bruch

Prince Albert says no more violence against women

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