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A2 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday December 11, 2002 Sheridan remembers victims of Montreal massacre By Howard Mozel 0.\KV1LLE BEAVER STAFF Peter C. McCusker · Oakville Beaver Sheridan advertising student Samantha holds a white rose in remembrance of the 14 women slain at L'Ecole Polvtechnique in Montreal in 1989. If there existed a sickness that affects women as terribly as violence and sexual assault, society would certainly mar shall its resources against this outrage, said speakers at Friday's sombre Sheridan College ceremony commemo rating 1989's Montreal Massacre. "We would consider this an epidemic if it was a disease," said Tracy Harrison, Public Education Coordinator of Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services (SAVIS) of Halton. As it stands, however, limit ed resources and a lack of awareness allow this betrayal of women to continue, often with hateful consequences. Case in point: during Sheridan's observance, SAVIS volunteer Jaqueline Roarco led listeners of both genders through the "night of horror" her own mother was raped, degraded and terrorized - an event which also severely im pacted loved ones and friends by conjuring rage, guilt, fear and more. "I never felt safe again in the world," said Roarco, who maintains that when any woman is assaulted the every day lives of all women are affected. That feeling is so prevalent that even Sheridan College president and CEO Dr. Robert Turner said he is preparing his daughter for the "hard truths" o f life as a woman. Turner also explained he's teaching his son that there are "no excuses" for raising his hand. As for Sheridan, Turner said the college has a zero-tolerance policy toward such behaviour and asked students not to per petuate old attitudes, especially since the problem shows no signs of diminishing. "Clearly it is an irrefutable truth that violence against women is increasing," he said. Harrison and Roarco also implored students as the next generation of adults to commit to zero tolerance and "stand up for those who can't." Sheridan's event was part of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, established by the Government of Canada in response to the murder o f 14 young women at L'Ecole Poly technique in M ontreal on Decem ber 6, 1989. The event began in the lobby of the Sheridan Centre for Animation and Emerging Technologies. Following the speakers' remarks there was a procession to the Peace Garden - site of a plaque that already commemorates the 14 women where white roses were laid by students and staff as each vic tim's name was read aloud. "This is a tough day," said Turner. "This is a day of remembering 14 promising women murdered by a misogy nist." In the years since the tragedy, said Harrison, society has not responded as it should, leaving those on the front lines with limited resources and vic tims with inadequate treatment and no-cost counseling. To underscore her point, Harrison explained that SAVIS provides free and confidential 24-crisis intervention, peer counseling and more, but does so with 1.5 full-time counsel lors -- a number made all the more paltry when you consider there were 180 reported sexual assaults in Halton last year and SAVIS made 3,490 contacts with the public. Lack o f funding, adds Harrison, "severely under mines" their ability to deliver service. The stakes are high: one in two women will fall prey to violence and Harrison said the oldest recorded sexual assault victim was 92 years old, the youngest only two weeks of age. It is this pervasiveness that hit home with a vengeance 15 years ago when Roarco's mother was brutalized by a knife-wielding assailant. "It felt like a bad dream. 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