December 6, 1989

EDITORIAL - Still a Long Way to Go on Violence Against Women

Like the Fall of Berlin Wall, which was commemorated last month, the murder of 14 women at L'École Polytechnique on December 6, 1989 is a news story I remember experiencing in real time. I was 11 at the time, so old enough that some of those memories still reach me a quarter of a century later. By then I knew enough French that "L'École" meant "school," and as much the seriousness of the situation resonated, so did the question: Why would anyone want to shoot up a school? Of course Marc Lépine was not there to shoot up a school, we was there to shoot and kill women. And 25 years later we're still struggling with a society where women feel like they're under attack, and where mistakes of the past seem far too easily repeated.

Remember Today...

Take Time to Remember

Today is the 20th anniversary of one of the worst tragedies in our nation's history. On this day 20 years ago, sometime after 4 pm, Marc Lépine arrived at L'École Polytechnique, an engineering school affiliated with the Université de Montréal, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a hunting knife and killed 14 female students before turning the gun on himself.

To mark the anniversary, Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis is hosting a vigil at City Hall tonight at 6 pm. Details are below:

December 6th Vigil - 20th Anniversary
Sunday, December 6th
6 pm
Guelph City Hall, Galleria (indoors)
1 Carden Street, Guelph
Wheelchair accessible/barrier free location.
for more information please call 519 836 1110 or visit www.gwwomenincrisis.org

Presented by Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis and Guelph City Youth Council. In association with the University of Guelph Central Student's Human Rights Office, Edward Johnson Public School, University of Guelph French Club, and CUPE 1334 Women's Council.

The community vigil will feature special speakers, performances, and art work by children about their vision for a peaceful, violence-free community. Join us to celebrate the lives of all the women and children killed in cases where male intimate partners have been charged in 2009. Join us to reflect on the 14 women killed in the Montreal Massacre in 1989. 20 years on, we continue to work to end violence against women and children in our community.

Whether you can make it or not, please take time today to remember 14 women who were shot for no other reason then they were women at an engineering school.

* Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
* Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
* Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
* Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
* Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
* Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
* Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the finance department
* Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
* Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
* Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
* Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
* Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
* Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
* Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student