NEED-A-SOURCE: National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women - What Canadians can do to advance gender equality

Plan International Canada Head of Policy Amanda Sussman and youth activist Kassandra available for interviews in Toronto

TORONTO, Dec. 1, 2016 /CNW/ - Violence against women and girls is inexcusable – but it is all too real. Girls in particular are disproportionately affected by gender-based violence. It is time for a radical shift in our public perception of the problem. We need to go beyond discussing symptoms, by uprooting the social norms that perpetuate inequality.

As we somberly commemorate the murders of 14 young women at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal on December 6, 1989, we recognize that Canada's work on gender equality is far from done. Government action is important, but not enough. Canadians need to challenge what we hear and see, and check our own behaviours and beliefs, while working in partnership with girls, women, boys and men. Canadians need to actively defy the expectations in our own lives that normalize violence and reinforce gender inequality.

Sources available for interview:

• Amanda Sussman, Head of Policy at Plan International Canada can speak to a radical shift in Plan International Canada's approach to violence against women and girls, by transforming the unequal gender power relations that are at the root of gender-based violence, in Canada and internationally.
  
  
• Kassandra, Youth Girls' Rights Activist, can speak to her experience leading as the Ambassador to the United Nations in New York for a day, as part of the Girls Belong Here initiative in October. At the UN, she raised her voice and put forward a resolution to combat gender-based violence.

About Plan International Canada and the Because I am a Girl Movement

Founded in 1937, Plan International Canada is one of the world's oldest and largest international development agencies, working in partnership with millions of people around the world to end global poverty. Not for profit, independent and inclusive of all faiths and cultures, Plan International strives for a just world that advances children's rights and equality for girls. Because I am a Girl is Plan's global movement to transform power relations so that girls everywhere can learn, lead, decide and thrive.

Visit plancanada.ca and becauseiamagirl.ca for more information.

SOURCE Plan Canada

Image with caption: "Plan International Canada/Because I am a Girl logo (CNW Group/Plan Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161201_C5292_PHOTO_EN_829588.jpg

MEDIA CONTACTS: Irene Whittaker-Cumming, Senior Manager, Communications, Plan International Canada, T: 416-920-1654 ext. 549 | C: 647-284-9575 | [email protected]