In conversation with Pat Petrala October 2, 2004, White Rock, BC.

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In 1991, Ottawa women witnessed a series of particularly brutal murders of women and a girl who was 14 years old. Their sense of outrage culminated in an innovative call for change when local lawyer Patricia Allen was murdered with a crossbow in broad daylight on a downtown street. The Womens Urgent Action Committee (WUAC) held a vigil in protest of her death:

'At the service we talked about how there should be a permanent marker for women. In Ottawa at that time, there was a huge war memorial that had been there for decades, a recently built Human Rights monument, and a Peace monument was in the works. We knew it was inappropriate to hold a memorial for Patty Allen at the war memorial, although many said that her death was the result of a war against women that had been going on for centuries.'

Thought turned into action. The WUAC joined with City Councillors Marion Dewar and Diane Holmes and the University Womens Club to create a monument. The WUAC consisted of a coalition of womens organizations: rape crisis centres, transition houses, Womens Place Information and Resource Centre, as well as women active in nearby Hull, Quebec. Pat Petrala was a member of the WUAC and president of Womens Place at that time:

'We expressed our feelings to one another. We wanted a monument. We did not want it to be angry. We wanted it to be inspiring. We searched for the balance point between having a memorial to murdered women, creating a healing place, inspiring people to continue to work against violence against women, and ensuring respect for the women who would be named there.'

Meeting over tea they discussed what form the memorial should take:

'Will we have tombstones or markers? We rejected the tombstone shape because we felt it was more appropriate at the gravesite of a woman. Instead we chose markers. That's why the women's names are engraved in granite forms that are of different sizes and shapes. We decided to create a public marker that would cumulatively tell the story of the number of women who are falling to the war against women. This meant that the form of naming had to be different than anything we knew of at that time.'

The WUAC members were aware that the Vietnam War Memorial etched the names of the fallen on black granite. And they were aware of the AIDS quilt that had covered the lawn in Washington with a unique patchwork in memory of each victim of AIDS. These known memorials added to the debate and discussion.

'It led us to understand why we should build a women's monument. We needed to create a memorial that would reflect the uniqueness of women.'

Petrala facilitated setting up target timelines and deadlines for the group. They worked closely with City Hall to know what the city needed from them. Artists guidelines were written. The group invited c.j. fleury and Mary Faught to participate.

'We realized that violence against women was not going to stop. Given that sad reality, how would the monument be continued through time? We decided that granite markers naming individual women would be added over time, a new one added each time another woman was killed.'

Together they imagined waves that were a fissure in the spousal relationship. The waves would also represent part of the up and down cycle of life and relationships.

'I remember shopping lists of words that expressed different feelings, words that represent femininity, peace, and love&because a lot of women who were murdered by their husbands were together because they loved each other. Where did they go wrong?'

c.j. fleury and Mary Faught responded with a variety of artistic concepts. A final design was chosen. The artists ascertained how much stone would be needed and what quarry had the stone they wanted. A large feminine shaped stone was found - a vulva shape with hips - and this became the centre of the artwork.

They decided to acknowledge the global war on women through a local lens, choosing to solely name women murdered in the Ottawa-Carleton area. Naming local women presented a huge challenge, different than the challenges faced by other memorial groups in Canada. How would they gather names?

'The women's shelters became an important source of information on who was murdered. We monitored the obituaries. If a woman died suddenly but the obituary did not mention a cause of death, someone in the group would try to find out how she died. We networked as much as possible.'

A few more meetings were required to determine the dedication. Possibilities were drafted. They didnt want feminist jargon. The wording of the dedication for the Womens Monument in Vancouver was on the table.

'We wanted whole language that others could relate to. Mary Faught took away all our ideas and came back with the perfect wording; we all just knew it was right when she said it.'

On December 6th, 1992, the Womens Urgent Action Committee (WUAC) unveiled Enclave, Womens Monument Against Violence:

'There was a scarf veiled over the words engraved in the vulva shaped stone. The scarf was ritualistically unveiled by c.j. and Mary. They read the dedication aloud. There was no applause. It was solemn, cold and wet. There were television people there who were asked not to take any images until the service was over.'

'We passed out candles to the crowd. The organizers provided a rose and a candle to a family member or friend of each murdered woman named at the site. When the womans name was called out their loved ones moved forward and placed the rose and candle by her marker. City Councillors spoke. Malaka sang and everyone sang with her and walked in a circle around the monument. A hundred or more people were there. Women formed the centre of the crowd and the men formed an outer protective circle. The children were as solemn as the adults'

Pat now lives in White Rock but at times she returns to Ottawa: 'I visit the monument and just cry because it is still growing.'

The dedication reads in French and English:

A LA MEMOIRE DE
TOUTES LES FEMMES
QUI ONT SUBI JUSQUA LA MORT
LA VIOLENCE DES HOMMES
IMAGINONS UN MONDE
OU LES FEMMES
LIBEREES DE LEMPRISE DE LA VIOLENCE
SEPANOUISSENT
DANS LE RESPECT ET LA LIBERTE
*******
TO HONOUR AND TO GRIEVE
ALL WOMEN
ABUSED AND MURDERED BY MEN
ENVISION A WORLD WITHOUT VIOLENCE
WHERE WOMEN ARE RESPECTED
&
FREE