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About Us
The New Brunswick Silent Witness Project is the first of its kind in Canada. The Silent Witness Project began in the United States in 1990 to honour women killed by their partners in acts of domestic violence. A group of women artisans from Minnesota created free standing, life sized red wooden figures to honour the woman who once lived and worked in the community and whose life ended violently at the hands of her partner. These wooden figures were called Silent Witnesses. One figure has a shield that says “Remember Me” to represent women whose murders went uncounted or unsolved.
In November 2000, the Charlotte County Family Violence Committee invited the Maine Silent Witness Project to Charlotte County to promote awareness of domestic violence by exhibiting their silhouettes in the region including in Saint John and Moncton.
The exhibit was so powerful that a collaborative province-wide Silent Witness Project was formed in New Brunswick and an organizing committee was struck to oversee its development. For more information on membership, see Silent Witness Committee In October 2001 the first two Witnesses were created in Charlotte County, bearing “Remember Me - Silent Witness” on the gold shield on the chest. Research commenced to identify the New Brunswick women killed in domestic homicides and murder-suicides since 1990. At the request of family or community, we have also created two silhouettes for women killed by the partners prior to 1990. The project was officially launched at a reception at Old Government House in Fredericton on November 7, 2002.
As of June 2016, we have worked with families and community to create 28 silhouettes bearing the name of New Brunswick woman. We know of nearly 20 additional New Brunswick women who have lost their lives to domestic violence. We hope one day they too will have a silhouette.
These women were silenced, but their collective voices speak out and encourage all of us to find solutions to end violence against women.