good afternoon everyone on behalf of the greater fallover domestic violence Coalition the mayor's office and da Quinn's office I want to welcome you to today's white ribbon campaign pledge signing to explain more about the white ribbon campaign please welcome Blair simus from Star I said it you did hello everyone the white ribbon campaign is more than just an event it is a movement since its Inception in
0:29Canada 1991 when a group of men took a stand against gender-based violence after the tragic Massacre of 14 women at a polytechnical school the campaign has grown into a global effort calling for Action accountability and allyship the white ribbon serves as a visible commitment to fostering a culture of respect equality and nonviolence while progress has been made the urgency of this cause remains every
0:56act of violence prevented every conversation started and every pledge taken brings us closer to a world where safety and dignity are the norm for all today as We Stand Together We reaffirm our shared responsibility to speak out support survivors and work towards lasting change
1:34thank you play for sharing the history and mission of the of this important movement now it is my pleasure to in to introduce mayor Paul kugan who will be leading us to take in the white pledge ribbon is that um obviously this is always a very important day in the city of Fall River we're very very pleased to be able to Host this every year and get everybody out for this so we're all going to
2:04repeat the white ribbon pledge together and then hopefully before we depart today everybody comes up and puts their name on the sheet so they know we were here um at the for of a government center on March 7th um for this very important thing so from this day forward let's all say it together from this day forward I promise to be a part of the solution in ending violence against women and all gender based violence so
2:35again thanks everyone for being here and I don't know who I'm turning it back over to thank you thank you don't fall now I'm not thank you mayor cougan for your leadership now I'd like to invite Bristol County district attorney Thomas Quinn to share a few words with us a little tap dance so the wind is providing a little background music today everybody's what's going on here last couple nights
3:11uh happy to be here today and thank the mayor for hosting this here uh in a nutshell domestic violence is unacceptable obviously it's an ongoing fight but I think for people to come together and emphasize the importance of protecting women or and or any PE any me uh people who are subject to domestic violence to know that there's a network there to who are working on their behalf
3:37to try to protect them uh we deal within the court system I've been it's bothered me for over 36 years to see primarily women being abused uh their children being impacted by it and then people might you know comment or criticize somebody later in life acting in a certain way why do you think they're doing that when you're exposed to that so that's been it's been a priority of my office I want to thank staff members
4:03here Courtney kahill who leads our domestic violence unit for not only the prosecution of cases which are very difficult it's unfortunate uh but prevention awareness uh is critical so I think you should know that we're doing everything we can to uh hold people accountable uh in the court system uh and also provide support for victims uh who are and their families who are uh subject to domestic
4:33violence we're there for them and I think they shouldn't feel that they're alone so thank you very much thank you da Quinn for your ongoing support as we finish today's ceremony let's remember that this pledge is more than just words it's a commitment to take action to challenge harmful behaviors support survivors create a community of respect safety and equality thank you all for being here for taking
5:00this pledge and for working together to make a difference now let's let's sign it