Today marks the 21st anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, which occurred on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique in Montreal. Twenty-five-year-old Marc Lépine, armed with a rifle and a hunting knife, shot twenty-eight people before killing himself. He entered a classroom at the university, where he separated the male and female students. After claiming that he was “fighting feminism”, he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. He then moved through the halls of the school, specifically targeting women to shoot. By the time he was finished his rampage, he had killed fourteen women and injured ten other women and four men before turning the gun on himself. Lépine’s suicide note blamed feminists for ruining his life.
The following women were murdered that day:
* 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 École Polytechnique’s 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
December 6th is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. Established in 1991 by the Parliament of Canada, this day marks the anniversary of the murders detailed above.
http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/dates/vaw-vff/index-eng.html
http://www.amnesty.org/en/campaigns/stop-violence-against-women