A book to commemorate the 14 victims who lost their lives in the Polytechnique massacre will be released in December.
Dec. 6, 2019, will mark the 30-year anniversary of the 1989 mass shooting at École Polytechnique that killed 14 women engineering students.
On that day 30 years ago a gunman stormed the university building and killed the group of students — because they were women.
The book will tell the story of the 14 young women whose lives were cut short as well as look back at the history of feminism.
The book is called Ce jour-là — Parce qu’elles étaient des femmes, which translates to ‘On that day — Because they were women.’
The commemorative sign at Place du 6-Décembre-1989 in Montreal’s Côte-Des-Neiges borough will also be changed ahead of Dec. 6 to reflect that the killings were an act of violence against women.
The sign currently refers to the incident simply as a “tragic event,” with no mention of it having been a hate crime.
The book launch will take place at 9 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 6, at Polytechnique Montréal followed by a 5 p.m. ceremony on Mont Royal.
Fourteen beams of light will illuminate the sky from the top of the mountain to honour each victim.
The book will be available in libraries across Quebec and for sale at Costco and online at Les Éditions La Presse as of Dec. 6.
–With files from Global News’ Kalina Laframboise