Victims of domestic violence remembered in Dartmouth

Nova Scotia's Community Services Minister Joanne Bernard said she will announce more funding for women dealing with domestic violence this week.

Bernard made the announcement during a ribbon cutting Sunday afternoon at Shubie Park for a new purple bench that commemorates all victims of domestic violence.

Dozens of people wearing purple t-shirts walked to the site with wooden silhouettes of women killed by domestic violence.

51 women killed since 1990

"The goal of today is to bring awareness to domestic violence and domestic homicide here in Nova Scotia. 51 women have died in Nova Scotia since 1990 as a result of domestic violence," said Dolly Mosher, co-chair of Silent Witness Nova Scotia and a domestic violence case worker with RCMP.

Mosher said four more benches will be added to various places around Nova Scotia in the next four years. Each bench, she said, has a phone number anyone can call if they need help leaving a bad situation.

Although the bench unveiling was for all victims, many who were there were people who knew Barb Baillie, a woman from Spryfield who was killed by her husband in 1990. Her grandchildren spoke at the ceremony.

'She would be proud'

"I think that she would be proud that we brought light to such a dark day and to such a dark issue and that we're bringing it forward to everybody to make them realize that there is help to be found," said Jessica Dobbin, Baillie's granddaughter.

Dobbin was two when her grandmother was killed.
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"I do have pictures of her and I together and I cherish them dearly," she said.

Jason Baillie never had the opportunity to meet his grandmother. She died before he was born.

"Sometimes it just really makes me sad and I feel really bad for her children like my dad, Mark," he said.