Sarah Crookall
Staff Reporter
The Township of Madawaska Valley started talks about installing a pebble stone memorial at Heritage Park in Wilno to honour women who died from intimate partner violence.
During the Dec. 7 council in committee meeting, JoAnne Brooks from the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County and artist Andy Trull presented stone mosaic examples for installation at Wilno Heritage Park.
To support Ontario’s inquest into the murders of three Renfrew County women in June 2022, the Women’s Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County is constructing the memorials with help of local residents. Bancroft, Killaloe, Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, Eganville, and Pembroke already have memorials–several are dedicated to survivors of sexual violence.
Talks about the memorial follow a specific case of intimate partner violence that occured six years ago.
In 2015, three women, Carol Culleton, Anastasia Kuzyk and Nathalie Warmerdam, were murdered by Basil Borutski. It is considered one of the worst intimate partner crimes in Canada.
Wilno is where Anastasia Kuzyk was shot and killed. Kuzyk was a naturalist and a real estate agent who previously worked at the Wilno Tavern. She was known for her love of animals and horses.
Even before the murders, Borutski’s history was checked with domestic violence. The crime has led legislators and communities to ask how the women’s deaths could have been prevented.
The stone installation will be a 6-foot pebble stone mosaic by the Toronto-based arts non-profit, Red Dress Productions. The structure is designed by Anna Camilleri and Andy Trull.
Artists and community members will work together to create the art installation.
“We like to use materials and a process that’s something everyone can enter into whatever their skill level or experience,” says Trull. “It’s something people can work with without having to speak but also it really connects them to the earth.”
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