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Thirty-five years later and over 3,300 kilometres away, people in Lethbridge gathered Friday to remember the victims of the École Polytechnique massacre.
On Dec. 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, 14 women were murdered, and another 13 people were wounded before the gunman killed himself.The shooter was a man motivated by a hatred of feminists, and separated men from women students inside the engineering school before opening fire.More than remembering, some are calling for change — saying violence against women happened long before the massacre and will continue long after today if something doesn’t happen. “You’ve heard it time and again, ‘something terrible is going to happen in order for this to change,’” said Lorien Johansen, events, marketing and communications with the YWCA Lethbridge.
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“Something terrible did happen, change isn’t coming fast enough.”
One expert says change starts in the classroom.“As more time goes on and more new students are coming onto campus that may not have even been born at the time of this event, it becomes more important to bring it to the forefront,” said Leah Webster, an employee in the sexual and gender-based violence prevention office at the University of Lethbridge.The university unveiled a mural designed by a student with the hopes of both remembrance and sparking the much-needed shift in ideologies. “Art has been such a big part of who I am for my whole life. It just means so much to be able to share it in a space that is supporting a cause of remembrance and anti-gender-based violence,” said Claire Lahey, the artist and a second-year student at the University of Lethbridge.Despite being born years after the violent attack, Lahey still felt compelled to honour those who can no longer speak.“It is more of a broader thing that a lot of women face. So, I think that, to do my part in helping others, is just so important to me.”Both post-secondary schools in Lethbridge honoured the occasion, giving hope to some.“It’s very comforting for survivors of domestic violence to know that their community stands with them,” said Johansen.However, she says remembrance and support is the result of a failure to stop the problem.“If we can prevent violence from happening, it is better than supporting someone after — or remembering someone after.”
For some, the coming together of a community decades after tragedy is a sign of a brighter future.“There is beauty coming from tragedy and the growth forward is where we’re headed,” said Webster. In 1991, the Government of Canada officially recognized Dec. 6 as National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women as a result of the mass-murders.
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