By Michael Boriero
Sherbrooke residents are invited to attend the 40th annual vigil hosted by the Centre d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel de l’Estrie (CALACS Agression Estrie), which takes place on Friday evening in front of city hall.
CALACS, a feminist organization that provides support to women who were sexually assaulted, and their relatives, as well as prevention, education, and awareness services, has gathered several sexual assault survivors to speak at the vigil, and share their stories.
According to Kelly Laramée, a communication intervener with the organization, the theme for this year’s event is courage, and how it appears in different shapes and sizes. CALACS has held a vigil every year, on the third Friday of September, for 40 years.
It is also known as the Journée d’action contre la violence sexuelle faite aux femmes, a day of action on sexual violence against women. Laramée told The Record that they are going to address the pandemic, and how it prevented thousands of women from seeking aid.
“This is also part of our intention, to show that the pandemic has increased a little bit the vulnerability of women. People were more isolated, had less access to services; we know a lot of services were closed for a long time, and the judicial process had a lot of delays,” she said.
There were many women in Sherbrooke that removed their complaints due to prolonged delays in the judicial system, Laramée explained, and a lot of them refused to go back. They are more resistant, and hesitant, to the idea that someone in the system will help them.
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