Family of Rebekah Harry raising awareness about violence against women

Rebekah Love Harry had the most fitting of middle names.

“She was love. She was joy,” said her brother Teddy Frenette.

“It says it in her name. Her name was Rebekah Love. Like that’s her actual government name.”

It’s been more than two years since the 29-year-old mother was killed after being assaulted at a LaSalle apartment on March 20, 2021.

“We miss her every day,” said her sister Sarah-Lisa Harry. “There’s not a day that we don’t think about her. There’s not a day that we don’t wish she was still with us and enjoying life.”

“We’re just going to be going through this for the rest of our lives, really,” added Frenette. “It’s never really going to end.

“We’ll never have relief.”

Rebekah’s boyfriend, who was charged with second-degree murder after her death, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter Wednesday.

“He admitted to killing her so violently and viciously in a way that’s unimaginable,” said Sarah-Lisa.

Her death came during a wave of femicides in Quebec. In most of the deaths, between Feb 5. and March 23, a partner or ex-partner was the suspect.

“No matter what the sentence will be, it won’t bring us joy,” added Frenette. “At the end of the day, the only thing that would have brought us joy is to have our sister with us.”

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BACKGROUND:

• 29-year-old Montreal woman dies following alleged attack by her boyfriend
• Montreal man charged with murder in girlfriend’s death following weekend attack

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Rebekah is being remembered as a person with a big heart who brought joy to her family and friends and loved her young son.

“She had a personality, was so bubbly,” said her sister. “She had us always laughing, her friends. Her and her son had an incredible best friend relationship. They danced together. They sang together. They cooked together. They had an Instagram page where they used to do cooking together, different recipes.

“She loved to cook. She loved to eat. She loved to travel. She was very open minded. She had the biggest heart. And everyone felt that wherever she was, you can feel it. She made everyone feel comfortable. She just had such a beautiful laugh and her smile. You can never forget it.”

Rebekah’s brother and sister and keeping her memory alive and raising awareness about violence against women. They plan to turn the tragedy into change.

“For whoever or whomever is going through situations like this, that they feel OK, that they feel safe to reach out for help and they feel not ashamed to be asking for help,” said Sarah-Lisa.

Frenette says part of the solution to ending domestic violence can include an education program for the province’s youth.

“We want to make sure is that it starts at a young age, so going to the Ministry of Education to create a program so that they get educated in schools at a young age,” he said. “So that when they finally get to an age of having relationships that they are already aware of these types of situations and are able to call it out and know the resources and know where to go.”

In the meantime, Rebekah’s family will continue to remember her as she was – a bubbly person who shared her joy with others at every opportunity.

“When I say a life at a party, people are thinking she was the wild one screaming and yelling,” said Frenette. “But it’s more in a sense of she was a gatherer. She’s the one that got everybody together. She’s the one that would call you on a Saturday at 9 a.m., like ‘hey, let’s go for a picnic.’ And call everybody from that side to this side and get everybody together and do things.”