Mary Ellen Carter

Mary Carter, Program Coordinator, St. Joseph's Health Centre, Sudbury Regional Hospital

Mary Carter is the head of the domestic violence/sexual assault treatment program at Sudbury Regional Hospital and one of the original members of the coalition.

Carter and other coalition members appeared before Greater Sudbury Council last week to thank politicians for giving them a spot at the Minnow Lake graveyard for their memorial and to invite them to the monument's June 8 unveiling.

At first her group wanted the memorial placed in a park or at the courthouse or police station, said Carter, but it reckoned that "these women didn't get what they were looking for" at the courthouse or police headquarters.

The coalition also worried that the monument might be defaced or vandalized if it were placed in a park.A mining monument in Bell Park was defaced about a month after it was erected, Carter said.

The coalition finally reached a consensus on what it wanted the memorial to represent and where it wanted it located, said Carter.

With the help of a facilitator, the coalition agreed a cemetery was a fitting place for a memorial symbolizing three qualities , respect, serenity and peace.

The monument, which is about four feet wide and five feet high, will contain the faces of three women , one young, one middle-aged and one elderly.

When women are young, they seek respect; when they are middle-aged they are looking for serenity; and when they are elderly, they want peace, said Carter.

"This monument provides a visible and tangible, respectful" memorial to women who have died of domestic violence, as well as a reminder to the community as a whole about the need to address issues such as domestic violence.

Carter said she hopes it will be the first of several memorials honouring domestic violence victims in Sudbury, adding that it's important to get it in place after a dozen years of debate.

The coalition concluded it was more important to have the monument erected than continue debating where it should go.

Carter challenged Garon's suggestion that the coalition in any way buckled under pressure from council not to put the monument in a park.

"None of us bowed our heads to city council," said Carter.

She said the women who sit on the coalition include "strong-minded" individuals from organizations such as the Crown attorney's office, the Sudbury-Manitoulin Children's Aid Society, the Ontario Province Police and the Sudbury and District Health Unit.

If Carter, a registered nurse, had thought placing the monument in a cemetery was at all disrespectful, she said she would never have agreed to the cemetery location.
...
I am sure that Coalition member Carter is expressing her own personal views when she stereotypes the goals of women across the lifespan.As an older woman and a Crone to boot, I was appalled to learn that when "women are young, they seek respect; when they are middle-aged they are looking for serenity; and when they are elderly, they want peace."It's clear to me that Carter has no knowledge of the Raging Grannies, the Amazing Greys, the Gray Panthers, the Crones Counsel, the Purple Hats and all of the other older women's groups that are politically active and leaders in shaping public policy.
...
Mary Carter said that she hopes it will be the first of several memorials honouring domestic violence victims in Sudbury.
...
Erecting the monument is just the tip of the iceberg, said Mary Carter, spokesperson for the coalition and director of the domestic violence/sexual assault treatment program at the Sudbury Regional Hospital.

"This does not have to be the only monument," she said."This is a first in the city and one of the first in Canada."

Sudburians can begin to take ownership of the problem of domestic abuse and violence towards women and arrive at community driven solutions, she said.

"Whether it's by simply hearing our neighbour out, or walking with a woman and her children when she needs a physical handout, or calling the police when we sense danger, we have to work together to eliminate violence," she said.

More than 60 women in Sudbury have been killed by their intimate partners since 1914, including two domestic deaths within the last year, according to Mary Carter, who is coalition spokesperson and works at the Sudbury Regional Hospital's Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Treatment Program.Approximately 160 women have visited the Sudbury Regional Hospital so far in 2004 because of domestic violence."This monument will hopefully increase public awareness on the important issues surrounding violence against women," Carter says.
...
"Where there has been disapproval over the location there has also been support," Carter says.
...
"It's a place where people should feel a certain respect for the women who went before them," Carter says."With the monument, where it is now, it will be harder for people to do damage to what should be honoured."The creation of the monument has been an ongoing process for several years, according to Carter.

Mary Ellen Carter

"A broad and inclusive public education campaign directed toward professionals and community groups is an important tool in preventing the perpetuation of sexual abuse," said Mary Carter, co-ordinator of domestic violence and sexual assault treatment programs at the hospital.

The Sexual Assault Treatment Program provides 24-hour service including emergency medical and psycho-social treatment, medical care and counseling services.

The Pastoral Institute of Northern Ontario is a spiritually based resource centre providing consultation, counselling services, training and education.

Hope you enjoyed reading The Sudbury Star online. Click here to order convenient home delivery.ID- 13544

Mary Carter
...
Mary Carter from the Sudbury Sexual Assault Centre, conducting one of the sessions.