This is the last in a series of columns featuring presenters and others who will be at the Imagine – Learn/Inspire/Act Conference being held on Saturday, May 6 at the Almonte Civitan Hall. The What Now Lanark County committee has just learned that Margaret Carson, co-author of the book The Castleton Massacre: Survivors Stories of the Killins Femicide will be in attendance at the conference, along with copies of this very important book.
Margaret (Maggie), who lives in Almonte, told us that the book has been short-listed for a Non-Fiction Crime Writers of Canada award, to be announced later this month.
On May 2, 1963, a former United Church minister, slaughtered every woman in his family but one. She (and her brother) lived to tell the story of what motivated a talented man who had been widely admired, a scholar and graduate from Queen’s University, to stalk and terrorize the women in his family for almost 20 years and then murder them.
Through extensive oral histories, co-authors Sharon Anne Cook and Margaret Carson painstakingly trace the causes of femicide in which four women and two unborn babies were murdered over the course of one bloody evening. While they situate this murderous rampage in the literature on domestic violence and mass murder, they also explore how two traumatized child survivors found their way back to health and happiness. Told through vivid first person accounts, this family memoir explores how a murderer was created.
Also in attendance will be several women who can share information about a province wide referendum on public health care which is being organized by the Ontario Health Coalition – a non-profit, non-partisan organization that defends and promotes public health care. The referendum will be held on May 26 and 27 at polls across Ontario. Online voting will be available May 3 to 27 at PublicHospitalVote.ca.
There will be a petition available for your signature.
More information is available at https://wwwontariohealthcoalition.ca.
The What Now Lanark County committee is truly grateful for the sponsorship of The Hub and Rebound, The Almonte Civitan Club, The Pakenham Civitan Club, the Stir It Up Collective, the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, Renfrew County and the OSSTF District 21, Lanark County Interval House and Community Support, and the Lanark County Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Program.
Conference tickets are $40 (includes a delicious lunch and snacks) and are available at ticketsplease.ca, or at Baker Bob’s or by calling 613-485-6434. For information please contact whatnowlanarkcounty@gmail.com.
