NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE (Yorkton Event December 11th)

The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women is December 6th.
On December 11th Yorkton Partnership Against Violence will host a Candlelight Vigil at 2:00 pm at Sacred Heart High School in Yorkton.   This vigil will commemorate the death of the fourteen women who were senselessly murdered in the 1989 Montreal Massacre while remembering the violence that many women endure on a daily basis.  Our guest speakers for the day will be Cathy Kaip from Regina, Gail from Yorkton and Sgt. James Morton – Yorkton District GIS.
Our guest speaker, Cathy Kaip, a Regina woman has been a victim of stalking for 36 years (3 1/2 decades or 13,000 days).  It began in 1974 when she met Gerald Klein at a wedding. Their first and last date was a coffee date.  However Klein wasn’t ready to end the relationship.
Klein was convicted in 2003 of criminally harassing Kaip, based on a 30-year history of phone calls, letters, cards, gifts and legal action. He has tried to sue her four times -- for breach of promise for failing to marry him, slander and malicious prosecution. After a judge prohibited Klein from launching any more civil suits and placed him under a restraining order, he attempted to sue Kaip criminally.
When Klein completed his three-year prison sentence for criminal harassment, the Crown successfully applied for a peace bond order, upheld on appeal by Klein. That order expired in August 2008, and the Crown reapplied after a couple of incidents.
In August 2010, a provincial court judge granted a peace bond requiring Gerald Klein to leave the city of Regina for a year.
Kaip is upset it took two years for the Crown to get a one-year peace bond, saying Klein caused delays and essentially used the court system to harass her further.
Kaip would like the federal government to amend the law so peace bonds can be granted for a longer term.
Local resident Gail will also speak about her personal journey of how stalking has affected her life.
Stalking is a form of criminal harassment and has serious effects on individuals.  The fear of invasion of personal space can be as violent as a direct physical attack, leaving a victim with internal scars that may never heal. We all have the right to live free of violence and to feel safe and secure within our personal space.
The reality of violence affects everyone.  Violence knows no boundaries.  It affects all people.  Women of all ages, races and classes may be the victims.
If we wish to become a society with zero tolerance to violence; we must promote the fact that violence is never acceptable.

For more information see www2.macleans.ca/2010/08/26/it-all-started-with-a-cup-of-coffee/