About Silent Witness Pictou Chapter
Since 1990 many Nova Scotia women have lost their lives due to violence. For 62 women from 1990 to 2018, their deaths came at the hands of their intimate partners, forever silencing their voices. The time has come to end their silence. The Pictou County Chapter of Silent Witness Nova Scotia is a group of individuals working together to raise these voices. Through community involvement and support, free standing, life-size, red, wooden silhouettes, each one bearing the name of a woman whose life ended violently as a result of domestic violence, are created. Because these women no longer have a voice the silhouettes are called Silent Witnesses.
The Pictou County Chapter began in April 2013. The chapter, with the help of her family, has created a silhouette bearing the name of Beatrice “Honey” Wright a Pictou County woman who was murdered at the hands of her intimate partner. They will work until not one more Pictou County woman is murdered by their intimate partner.
In October 2017, with the assistance of the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women, Silent Witness Nova Scotia and Barb’s Bench Project, the Pictou County Chapter SWNS installed a purple bench, located on the waterfront near the New Glasgow Farmer’s Market. Through this project, the Pictou County Chapter honored the memory of Barbara Baillie, a Nova Scotia woman who was murdered by her intimate partner. The bench sits quietly overlooking the beautiful East River. Within its beauty, the bench was made as a source of help for women experiencing intimate partner violence. The information provided on the bench will help women access help in a time of crisis.
In May 2019, the chapter hosted a Conference on Human Trafficking featuring activist, human trafficking survivor & author of The Teen Sex Trade My Story, Jade Brooks. Jade is a mentor for other survivors and those at risk of becoming involved in domestic sex trafficking. She was recruited into the sex trade as a young girl – lured into “The Game” by a pimp she thought loved her.
The conference also featured advocate & activist, Jennifer Holleman, who shared her daughter’s story of being lured into the sex trade where she was trapped in fear of her life and her family’s safety.
