Fucked Up, winners of the 2009 Polaris Prize, this week released their cover of the seminal 1984 Bob Geldof/Midge Ure song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” and it’s pretty great. The band used part of their $20,000 Polaris cheque to bankroll the recording, and are donating the proceeds to three important Canadian charities: Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Montreal, DTES Power of Women Group in Vancouver, and Sisters in Spirit in Ottawa. The three groups together advocate for and agitate about the hundreds of murdered or missing Aboriginal women across the country; the song is 99 cents on iTunes and will be released as a 7″ vinyl single in February, apparently.

I bought mine, and Fucked Up’s cover version of the song definitely captures some of the campy charm of the original, which has lately become a bit of a punchline because of its maudlin message, the assemblage of crazy music personae out-caterwauling one another, and the tone-deaf paternalistic/neocolonialist thrust of the whole exercise. The tongue-in-cheek approach is clearly on display, with a WTF-inducing grab-bag of guest singers including Canada’s Tegan & Sara, Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, Yo La Tengo, Andrew W.K., comedian David Cross, and Wu Tang Clan’s RZA. “Jingle Bell Rock” this ain’t, thank goodness. Here’s wishing everyone Happy Hardcore Holidays.

Buy it: “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Fucked Up

Canadians who are old enough to remember know exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the Montreal massacre. To commemorate the event, Dec. 6 is now officially a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. While some think the Montreal massacre is a horrific but anomalous event, it is important to remember on this upcoming National Day of Remembrance and Action that violence against women is still a very big issue today.

For example, over 500 Indigenous women have gone missing or have been murdered in the past two decades. Often, women of poor and racialized backgrounds are more susceptible to being victims of violence.

Furthermore, the events at Polytechnique galvanized survivors and supporters to demand tighter gun control laws. Though a law that passed six years later ushered in an era of stricter gun control, the Harper government is in the process of rolling back the achievements that, in particular, families of victims fought so hard for.

More recently, it was only in August when George Sodini shot and killed three women and injured another nine when he walked into an LA Fitness club. His motivation, as documented in a nine-month Web diary: sexual frustration, perceived rejection and alienation, and ultimately hatred towards women.

While it is important to commemorate the dead, there is no point in fooling ourselves that Canada has “moved on” from this tragic chapter of history. There is more awareness surrounding violence against women, but the violence, unfortunately, has yet to stop.

For all those who were too young to remember the Montreal massacre, Heather J. Wood’s Fortune Cookie—a coming of age fictional story set in 1989 Montreal—is a great start.