Justice for Rumana rally report

Many thanks to Jennifer Ho, Co-Chair of the Vancouver Regional Women's Committee for this report.

UBC student Rumana Monzur was reportedly attacked by her husband during a recent trip home to Dhaka, Bangladesh. She lost her eyesight and had her face badly injured.

On June 26th I attended a "Justice for Rumana" rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery along with Cheryl Oenema, Co-chair of PSAC Vancouver Regional Women's Committee, Tracy Shudo, PSAC BC Regional Council Coordinator for Members with Disabilities and Janelle Ho-Shing, PSAC Regional Representative.

• Click for some photos taken at the rally.

Angela Marie MacDougall, the Executive Director of Battered Women's Support Services, spoke at the rally and reminded us that, "It is women's strength, not their weakness to stay in the relationship despite of the abuse and violence from their loved ones. It is women's strength because we are committed to the ones we love and we want to make it work!" There were several other speakers who also gave really good inspiring speeches and they all were well received by the crowd. Violence against women has to end an it has to end now!

Let's listen out to those who have had the unfortunate experiences or who know the unfortunates. Let's reach out to help them and work together to put an end to this. It is an ongoing and a hard battle and we need them to speak up and hold those responsible for these mishaps accountable. I am very excited to share with you that we will be connecting with Battered Women's Support Services to work strategically for the future of women's issues.

In Solidarity, Jennifer Ho Co-Chair of PSAC Vancouver Regional Women's Committee