Dec. 6 marked the 35th anniversary of the École Polytechnique tragedy, or Montreal massacre. On this day in 1989, gunman Marc Lépine entered a mechanical engineering classroom at Montreal’s École Polytechnique university, separated the men and women, and killed 14 women in a shooting rampage. Thirteen other individuals were wounded.
The names of the women killed are Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault and Annie Turcotte. None of these women were above the age of 35, and the youngest, Annie Turcotte, was only 20.
To mark the anniversary, local organization the Canadian Federation of University Women Kitchener-Waterloo (CFUW-KW) held a vigil at St. Columba Anglican Church in Waterloo. The CFUW-KW holds this vigil every year. Present at the vigil this year were local politicians, including Green Party MP for Kitchener Centre Mike Morrice, Green MPP for Kitchener Centre Aislinn Clancy and Liberal MP for Waterloo Bardish Chagger.
At the event, music was performed by violinist Kaitlynn Cook and pianist Lisa Santoprete, both students in the faculty of music at Wilfrid Laurier University. The evening began with words from the Dec. 6 vigil committee chair and CFUW-KW member Margaret Walker before candles were lit to mark each of the 14 women lost.
A presentation was also given by Sara Casselman, the executive director of the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region (SASC).
“I’ve now been working in this sector for 22 years, and every year I struggle trying to figure out what to share on this anniversary that’s different than what I shared in previous years. I have countless statistics that speak to the prevalence of violence against women in its many forms, locally and nationally,” Casselman said.
With 2024 marking the 35th anniversary, many take the anniversary of such an event to determine what steps can be taken to ensure that a similar incident is not repeated.
“It’s a time to look back and say, as everybody says, ‘What can we do next?’,” said Debbie Cook, the program chair of the CFUW-KW’s executive committee when asked what the 35th anniversary of the massacre means to her.
She also highlights that it is important to educate women’s fathers and brothers so they recognize the important role they play in protecting women.
“I think we have to be careful that it’s not relegated to history,” echoed Walker. “It’s difficult to know, but it does at least look on the surface like the violence is getting worse, not better. We’ve got to keep on at it.”
According to the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability (CFOJA), there has been a 27 per cent increase in killings of women and girls involving male accused from 2019 to 2022.
“Last year, our center supported almost 1,300 survivors of gender-based violence across our programs. We also responded to more than 1,500 calls on our 24-hour support line,” Casselman said in her presentation about SASC ‘s work in the Region to attendees of the vigil. “We’ve been doing this work since 1989. Two short months after our centre was founded was the Montreal massacre.”
Founded in 1989 after an anonymous $1000 dollar donation and donated airtime from an answering service, the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region began with a 24-hour support hot line ran by 25 volunteers. After the Montreal Massacre took place, the centre received a $30,000 dollar donation from Mutual Life of Canada in June 1990.
This donation in combination with community donation allowed the organization to rent an office space and hire a staff member before provincial funding was acquired. Today, the centre has 31 staff members and 74 volunteers.
Through the work of these individuals, the organization has been able to continue helping those across the region. “Last year, our centre supported almost 1300 survivors of gender-based violence across our programs. We also responded to more than 1500 calls on our 24-hour support line,” Casselman said.
For those who studied engineering like Walker and Cook, the anniversary has an added layer of emotion.
“I had met other women who came into my field, and they did have issues — things like ‘Oh, you can’t walk in that part of the plant because you distract the men,’ or getting bad co-op reviews because they refused something from a man,” Cook said.
“Luckily, the woman I’m thinking of was strong and called them on the carpet for it and said ‘what are you doing?’” she said.
“There were times I did call people to task on what they said,” echoed Walker. “Let me say in the end, calling people to task did not actually hurt my career.”
Walker also stressed the need for men in the field to understand that there can be violence happening in the workplace and to support women around them.
For women in engineering, it is important to have a strong support system in the workplace in order to feel confident when speaking up. “Try and surround yourself with supportive people, so that if you do have to get up, you’ve got supportive women, but also supportive men around you who can be with you,” Walker said.
For the CFUW-KW and SASC, work to support women facing violence is ongoing. The CFUW has compiled a toolkit of information and strategies that help to increase awareness of gender-based violence and how to combat it.
SASC continues to assist those suffering directly in the region, as well as advocating through their public education and male allyship programs within the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) that brings young athletes together to have “meaningful conversations around consent, healthy relationships, positive masculinity, and leadership.”
Photo by Bronte Behling.
