'Shine the Light' event held in London, Ont. Tuesday night

The 13th annual "Shine the Light" event was held in London, Ont.'s Victoria Park on Nov. 1, 2022. Featuring guest speaker and survivor Jennifer Kagan, the event aims to raise awareness on intimate partner violence. (Jaden Lee-Lincoln/CTV News London)

On Tuesday, the 13th annual “Shine the Light on Woman Abuse” event was held in London’s Victoria Park, raising awareness against intimate partner violence.

The event kicked off at 5:30 p.m. at Victoria Park by lighting the Tree of Hope. This year’s event focused primarily on the themes of coercive control and filicide.

The Shine the Light on Woman Abuse campaign is the brainchild of the London Abused Women’s Centre. The campaign initially began in 2010 as a small grassroots movement, and since then “has since become an internationally recognized awareness campaign, exposing men's violence against women worldwide,” according to the campaign website.

For guest speaker and honouree Dr. Jennifer Kagan, her mission to end violence against women and children is personal.

In her speech, Kagan expressed gratitude that this year’s event honoured herself and her late daughter Keira.

Keira Kagan, who was four years old when she died, is seen in this photo released by her mother. (Supplied)

Kagan shared that she and her then infant daughter Keira fled an abusive relationship in 2016, and said she was subjected to many forms of violence, the worst of which was coercive control, which entails maintaining control over a person’s day-to-day life through intimidation and threats of violence.

While she was able to safely flee the abusive relationship with her daughter thanks to various resources, Kagan then said she sought protection through the court system for herself and her daughter, whom she called a “beautiful and bright-eyed baby.”

“The perpetrator, my ex-husband, wanted to maintain power and control over me and harm me at all costs,” she said.

Kagan said she pleaded with the courts and child protection workers to help Keira, but “no one did.”

In February 2020, Keira and her biological father, Kagan’s ex-husband, were found dead at the base of a cliff in Milton, Ont. in an alleged murder-suicide.

“She was completely failed by the family court and Jewish Family and Child Services,” Kagan said.

Since her daughter’s death, she and her husband Philip Viater, a lawyer. have been advocating for reform across the family legal and child protective systems.

Keira’s Law passed unanimously in the House of Commons in June of this year, and now heads to the Senate.

Kagan said Keira’s Law aims to “raise the level of education to domestic violence and coercive control for federally appointed judges,” and now plans to turn her attention to the province to enact reforms that will better protect women and children in violent situations.

Awareness for the campaign is made by turning communities, such as homes and workplaces and by choice of clothing purple during the month of November.

Shine the Light seeks to empathize with abused women, and show that “any shame and/or blame they may feel does not belong to them but the perpetrators of their abuse.”

“We have had support from Canadians coast to coast who are appalled by how Keira was failed and are joining us in our fight to see improvements,” Kagan said. “We do not want this to happen to any other child or family.”