Braving a biting winter wind, dignitaries gathered in front of Polytechnique Montréal’s main campus on Friday to pay tribute to the 14 women killed at the engineering school in an anti-feminist attack 35 years ago.
Among those silently laying white flowers at the foot of a commemorative plaque was Louis Courville, who was the interim director of the school in 1989.
“I am glad that there are many people who did not forget what has happened,” Courville, 90, said afterwards. “At the same time, it’s the memory of a very sad, horrible thing.”
The women murdered in 1989 were Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz.
Thirteen others were injured in the attack perpetrated by Marc Lépine, who took his own life. He had ranted about feminists ruining his life.
Courville was in his office when the shooting began and all he could hear was a rain of bullets. He assumed an armed group had besieged the school. “I couldn’t think that it was only one person. I tried to figure out, what are they going to ask of me? Am I going to have to negotiate something?” he recalled.
“But Marc Lépine wasn’t coming to negotiate,” Courville added. In the days and weeks that followed, he and his wife Jeanne Dauphinais would travel across the province to meet with families of the victims.
Polytechnique Montréal president Maud Cohen said Friday there’s a duty to learn from what happened. “We need to remember these young ladies that lost their lives: there were 13 students, one employee,” Cohen told reporters.
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“It’s about making sure everybody can have a path forward,” she added. “It’s about making sure that everyone, women specifically on Dec. 6, can feel welcome, they can feel like they can blossom and they can really enjoy a place where they can fulfil their dreams.”
Mathieu Thibault, a fourth-year civil engineering student at Polytechnique, had the tragedy of Dec. 6 imparted on him at a young age. His mother was at the school the night of the shooting and left with everyone rushing out of the building. Both his parents graduated from the school.
Thibault grew up hearing about double standards and sexism on the job, and upon admission to university, he joined a group advocating for more women in the engineering profession.
“It’s a heavy moment, you know, it’s time to reflect on how we act: where are we in society?” Thibault said. “And this year in particular, I feel like because it’s the 35th, but it’s also a year where we’ve seen a certain rise of toxic masculinity.”
Cohen said she is worried that incursions on women’s rights in the United States could seep into Canada.
“I’m wondering if the rights that I have right now are going to be the same that the next generation of women are going to have,” Cohen said. “I think we all have a responsibility, not just us women, but also the men around us to make sure this doesn’t happen to any groups, specifically women.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement Friday describing the 14 women killed as “talented students, beloved daughters and sisters, and Canada’s future. Their lives were tragically cut short simply because they were women.”
“As we remember the victims of this hateful, cowardly act, we are also reminded that, for many women, girls, and gender-diverse people, the violent misogyny that led to this tragedy still exists,” Trudeau added.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recalled on the anniversary that “this brutality is remembered as one of the worst attacks on women and on the values that unite us.”
“Canada’s promise is one of guaranteed freedom, safety and opportunity for all, regardless of gender or origin,” Polievre said in a statement. “Any form of violence against women is totally unacceptable.”
At 5:10 p.m. on Friday, the exact time the first shots were fired, 14 beams of light are set to illuminate the sky above Mount Royal, lit one at a time as the names of the 14 victims are read out. For the first time this year, a 15th beam will be added in memory of all victims of femicide.
Families of victims will be present for the ceremony along with Trudeau, Quebec Premier François Legault and Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante.
Vigils and other events are scheduled in Montreal and across the country to mark the anniversary.
“Thirty-five years later, we still have to reiterate that women have the right to live without fear, to follow their aspirations and to achieve their dreams,” Plante said in a statement Friday. “Every step towards equality benefits society as a whole.”
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