Loyalist cuts down on violence against women

By Sean Macey

Jennifer Roberts cuts Mati Savulescu's hair at the Cuts and Feathers for Shelter event outside the Shark Tank Pub on Wednesday. The event raised money and awareness to fight violence against women. Photo by Taylor Renkema

Loyalist College is doing its part to fight violence against women by giving out haircuts for donations.

On Wednesday the school hosted the Cuts and Feathers for Shelter event, put on by the Jazz Hair Studio outside the Shark Tank Pub. The haircuts are in exchange for donations towards the Three Oaks Womens’ Shelter in Belleville.

Marc Bourgeois, the co-owner of Jazz, started the campaign. Bourgeois started the event because of the Montreal Massacre, which happened 22 years ago when Marc Lepine shot and killed 14 women at a Montreal engineering school.

Bourgeois chose to host the Cuts and Feathers for Shelter event at the college this year because the massacres occurred on a campus.

“It’s kind of a good cause, and I like the idea of keeping the memory of these 14 women alive,” Bourgeois said.

He said he was impressed with the response from the students so early in the day.

“We just started but it’s amazing, it’s great. Already there’s people dropping money into our little bucket,” he said.

The haircuts began at 10 a.m. and were to continue until three.

John Cowan, a second-year radio student, was one of the first people to get his hair cut.

“I’m really happy with the result. I couldn’t ask for anything better, and honestly I really hope that more and more people come here today and I hope that it really blows up from here,” he said.

Shawna Blair, one of the hairdressers involved in the event, also noticed the excitement from the students.

“It’s been great,” said Blair. “Everyone seems kind of excited about it.”

She said when she started working at Jazz it got her more involved in fighting violence against women.

“It just seems like a really good cause,” said Blair.

“I’d never really gotten involved, but we always do the White Ribbon Campaign at Jazz. Then Marc suggested this year that we were going to come here to support the cause. It just seemed like a great way to raise awareness,” she said.

The White Ribbon campaign was started 20 years ago by a group of men interested in ending violence against women. It runs every year leading up to the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. The campaign is used to raise donations and awareness against violence towards women.