Press Clippings--Part II

New article from today's Montreal Gazette:

"Murdered women honoured with monuments: To be unveiled Oct. 23 at Grier Park; Benches have been installed nearby for people to sit and meditate or pray"
By Alycia Ambroziak

It's an anniversary that no one would wish upon his or her worst enemy, but for John and Doreen Drummond, Oct. 5 was a day they had no choice but to face: It was the first anniversary of their daughter Kelly-Anne's murder.

"It truly is a sad time for us," Doreen Drummond said last week. "The only consolation I have is that three women I know of made a decision to get out of violent relationships - they were influenced by what happened to Kelly-Anne. "

Through her death, I, along with John and Kim, Kelly-Anne's younger sister, received the strength to join forces with the Missing and Murdered Persons Families Association," she said.

Kelly-Anne Drummond, an educator at a day-care centre, was attacked Oct. 3, 2004, at the Pierrefonds apartment she shared with her boyfriend. Drummond had been stabbed in the back and died two days later. She was 24.

Martin Morin-Cousineau, 30, was charged with second-degree murder. The trial is scheduled to take place in early March.

Drummond said that on Oct. 23, the borough of Pierrefonds will hold a commemorative ceremony for her daughter as well as for Janet Kuchinsky, a mother of three who was killed July 10, 1999. Kuchinsky had taken an evening walk on an path at the north end of Sources Blvd. Her body was found the next day in bushes a few metres off the path. No one has been charged in connection with the 43-year-old's death.

Bert Ward, pro-mayor of the borough, said two monuments will be unveiled Oct. 23 at Grier Park, next to an already installed monument in memory of Anne-Marie Edward, one of the 14 women killed by Marc Lepine in the massacre at the Universite de Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989. She was 21.

"We wanted to do something to say no to violence," Ward said. He said there are benches installed near the monuments for people to sit and meditate or pray.

"This section of the park will be a memorial to those Pierrefonds women who were murdered," he said.

The Quebec Lifesaving Society is holding a Kelly-Anne Drummond Foundation memorial service, candlelit march and cocktail fundraiser on Nov. 26.

Drummond had represented Quebec and Canada at national and international lifesaving championships and competed as a member of the Quebec team at the World Rescue Championships in Italy.

The Nov. 26 event will begin with a memorial service at St. Mark's Anglican Church, 865 Lakeshore Rd. in Dorval at 4:30 p.m., followed by a processional candlelit march to the Sarto Desnoyers Community Centre, 1335 Lakeshore Rd. in Dorval. The fundraising cocktail will take place from 6 to 9:30 p.m at the community centre.

Tickets for the cocktail fund-raiser are $50. Cash bar. For information, call (514) 252-3100.