Londoners gathered in Victoria Park on Nov. 1 for the 15th annual lighting of the Tree of Hope, as part of the Shine the Light campaign.

Shine the Light began in 2010 and is a grassroots campaign to raise awareness around woman abuse, and exposing men’s violence against women worldwide. London’s campaign is facilitated by the London Abused Women’s Shelter (LAWC), a long-time fixture in the community.

“The goals of the campaign are to shift the blame from survivors of trafficking and abuse onto the shoulders of those who are committing the abuse,” said Gail McVicar, Community Engagement Manager for LAWC. “We also want to raise awareness for all the supports that are available in the community.”

This year there were more than 100 illumination points across Canada, as well as some in the UK, Ireland, Australia and the US.

McVicar said they had a decent turnout for the event, which looked to be over 100 people.

“This is what we would normally expect. We have a great support team in London, we have a lot of buildings that are gonna be turning purple tonight, so as people look to the sky, hopefully they will see the purple, and this is the first year that we’re having our night market.”

After the tree was lit up in purple lights, attendees were able to enjoy the night market, which was set up outside the Bandshell in Victoria Park.

“We have a number of our community partners, so organizations like ANOVA, Muslim Resource Centre, Changing Ways, Safe Space, all here to help share information,” said McVicar.

There were also community vendors who had set up booths as well.

“The vendors are selling crafts, food and things that people might want to buy at this time of the year for gift giving,” McVicar added. “Part of that came out of the fact that not everyone can illuminate their business, if you’re an independent business owner maybe you don’t have the infrastructure for that, or you just don’t have a physical space… but they still wanted to support us.”

Overall, there were around 20 booths set up, and Londoners braved the chilly weather to check out what they were offering. Mayor Josh Morgan, as well as some of London’s city councillors were among the crowd.

The Shine the Light campaign is just one of many works of the London Abused Women’s Centre. The centre has been part of the London community for more than 40 years. McVicar said they work with girls and women aged 12 and up who have experienced intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, and trafficking. All of their services are completely free, and they provide confidential one-to-one counselling as well as group work.