Caroline Galloway, Jane Ledwell, Michelle Jay, and Hsiao-Yu Liu at the 2025 Walk in Silence for Victims of Family Violence.
Today, Council’s Chairperson Hsiao-Yu Liu and three staff members (Caroline, Jane, and Michelle) wore purple and took part in Charlottetown’s 15th Walk in Silence for Victims of Family VIolence. This walk during Family Violence Prevention Week, was initiated by survivors and survivor advocates in 2010 in Charlottetown, but Walks in Silence have since spread to many communities across PEI. There will be at least 6 this year. Walks in Silence, wearing purple, and the purple ribbons distributed by the PEI Advisory Council on the Status of Women have become the symbols of support and solidarity for Family Violence Prevention Week,
Premier Rob Lantz addresses the 2025 Walk in Silence for Victims of Family Violence, May 2025.
Hon. Jenn Redmond, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, and Danya O’Malley, Chairperson of the Premier’s Action Committee on Family Violence Prevention, speak before the Walk in Silence for Victims of Family Violence in Charlottetown, May 2025.
Family Violence Prevention Week is an initiative of the Premier’s Action Committee on Family Violence Prevention, known as PAC, a collaboration of government, community organizations, and police that was formed in 1995 by Premier Catherine Callbeck. The Committee has been upheld by all subsequent premiers, including Premier Rob Lantz, who spoke at today’s Charlottetown Walk in Silence. PAC has continued its work to prevent violence for 30 years.
Family Violence Prevention Week was first declared in PEI in 1997, when each of the Atlantic provinces agreed to proclaim a week. At that time, the week was held in February, during the week of Valentine’s Day. The first February Walks in Silence for Victims of Family Violence were both cold and slippy underfoot.
Clip from a video from February 2015’s Walk in Silence for Victims of Family Violence.
Since 2022, Family Violence Prevention Week has taken place in May during the week that follows Mothers Day, and PEI Family Violence Prevention Services and the City of Charlottetown have made sure the tradition of Walks in Silence has continued — on clearer streets.
His Honour the Honourable Dr. Wassim Salamoun, O.P.E.I., Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island, and his aide.
When His Honour the Honourable Dr. Wassim Salamoun, O.P.E.I., Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island, was installed in his role, he expressed that he wants to use his position to shine a light on family violence in PEI and to support survivors and prevention. He addressed the Walk in Silence today as well. His predecessor as Lieutenant-Governor, Hon. Antoinette Perry, had a purple flower garden planted at Government House for Family Violence Prevention Week.
