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| The Montreal Massacre is remembered during a candlelight ceremony on Sexton Campus two years ago. (Photo by Leigh Beauchamp Day) |
Eighteen years ago today, Marc Lepine stormed into an engineering class in Montreal鈥檚 脡cole Polytechnique, ordering the male students to leave before opening fire. He killed 14 women and wounded 13 others before turning the gun on himself.
The enraged man murdered the women because he 鈥渉ated feminists.鈥� And, almost immediately, the Montreal Massacre became a galvanizing moment in which mourning turned into outrage about all violence against women. Since 1991, December 6 has been the National Day of Commemoration and Action on Violence Against Women.
鈥淰iolence against women is just as apparent as it was then, and the massacre brought these issues to the fore,鈥� says Nessa Trenton, a third-year Dal student who volunteers at the AV俱乐部 Women鈥檚 Centre.
Through the month of November, the centre planned a number of events in honour of the women who were killed on Dec. 6, 1989. They ranged from the 鈥淏athtub Project,鈥� a campaign to collect new and gently used toiletry items to donate to women鈥檚 shelters, town-hall discussions and film screenings. On the anniversary date, there will be a candlelight memorial held in the alumni lounge on Sexton campus. The vigil, beginning at 6:30 p.m., is a joint effort by the Women鈥檚 Centre and AV俱乐部 engineering students.聽
While many women at AV俱乐部 don鈥檛 call themselves feminists, they say they do believe in equality and changing people鈥檚 attitudes so women won鈥檛 have to face oppression and violence.
鈥淭he Montreal Massacre was the mistake of one man who didn鈥檛 believe in equality, and it reflects the violence and suppression of women everywhere,鈥� says Michelle Hampson, 18, a Dal student who hopes to study journalism.聽
It wasn鈥檛 that long ago that women weren鈥檛 expected to go to university, much less enter male-dominated fields such as engineering or medicine. To some women at Dal, that in itself makes commemorating the massacre all the more important.
鈥淭he massacre means that my being in school has historical significance,鈥� says Sonya Wellhausen. She says she will stop for a few moments on December 6 and remember 鈥渂ecause we are all those 14 women (and) we will always be.鈥�