Virgin Radio’s Holly & Nira Promotes the Night Light Walk

A very special thank you to Holly & Nira at Virgin Radio for spotlighting our Night Light Walk on your show today!

Listen in and follow the audio transcript below:

Something very important is happening in North Vancouver this Thursday night. It's the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation's Night Light Walk, a powerful event to raise awareness and critical funds for women and families affected by intimate partner violence. Sadly, intimate partner violence statistics here in Canada are actually shocking.

That's the part that gets you. Yeah. It's Canada. Canada. In Canada. They say on any given night, in Canada, across our country, approximately 300 women, girls, and families are turned away because there is not enough room in shelters when they're trying to flee a domestic violence situation.

300 on any given night. It's not acceptable. The statistics are real. According to StatsCanada, an estimated 360,000 children witness family violence every single year. In Canada, in 2022 alone, there were 117,000 reports of intimate partner violence, with women and girls experiencing rates more than three times higher than others.

Locally, this issue has now reached a crisis level. A lot of municipalities—95 municipalities, to be exact—across Canada have declared intimate partner violence an epidemic. This is why the Night Light Walk is happening this Thursday night. There's so much education involved. There's so much to learn. There's so much to understand. There's so much to support.

So, being able to be part of a community event where you can be there for something beautiful and support a change that's needed in our community is amazing. The North Shore Crisis Services Society is all about being there for the women.

In Canada, 4 in 10 women—that’s 40%—are experiencing some form of intimate partner violence. We need to start educating our children young, and when we say “children,” it's your boys and your girls.

Yes, thank you. It's very important to educate your sons and your daughters, or your children in general. Education about hands-off behavior, education about emotional manipulation, education about mental manipulation—all of that is part of abuse. Financial control, that's a huge one for women right now because of the cost of living.

Definitely, where are they going to go if they're in such a vulnerable position? Where are you going to go, especially if you have children? How are you going to get that help? Also, there are so many immigrants who are in Canada because we are that beautiful country. For immigrants, it's even harder.

Because of that financial stress, the financial burden, and also the cultural burden that is on women and children who come from other countries, it is something that a lot of women carry. There are many, many beautiful crisis centers out there helping women and families specifically.

One of them is the North Shore Crisis Services Society, and they're hoping to raise some very critical funds and, of course, awareness for this crisis. It's a conversation that’s very important this Thursday night. It’s happening at Highlands Elementary School. It starts at 6:45 p.m. They say to be there by 6:30 p.m. because they're hoping a lot of people turn out.

And if you want to get more information, the North Shore Crisis Services Society's website is nscss.net. And when you go to the Night Light Walk, they’re saying you’re giving the gift of safety. I love that. Isn’t that beautiful? There you go. Thursday night.