Montrealers remember 14 women killed by gunman 35 years ago at Polytechnique

To remember the 14 women who were killed 35 years ago today in an anti-feminist mass shooting at École Polytechnique in Montreal, a ceremony in a park dedicated to the victims — not far from where the tragedy took place — was hosted by the Quebec Women’s Federation also known as the FFQ.

“35 years ago, somebody decided to kill women for who they were,” said Marina Mathieu, the project coordinator of the FFQ.

Sylvie St-Amand, the president of the FFQ adding, “It’s a tough day. It’s really sad. It’s really frightening still this day.” 

“In Quebec, today we have already 25 women that were killed this year in Quebec.”

At the ceremony, the names of each victim were read including Annie St-Arneault. Her brother Serge spoke at the event. 

“She was a fantastic woman. She was extremely intelligent. She was tremendously intelligent and so close to each one of us, so committed. It is a tremendous loss,” said St-Arneault.

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“We’re in a day in age right now where we see that we have lost some of the gains that we fought for. So on this December 6th day, it’s the time for us to remember why we keep fighting because violence against women is still there,” said Anathalie Jean-Charles, the Region of Montreal Chapter director of Shelter Movers (Transit Secours).

This event coincides with the final day of the 12 days of action to end violence against women, an opportunity to address various forms of violence and to suggest solutions to each of them to prevent and to generate lasting positive changes in the lives of women and girls. 

“The theme this year was online or offline let’s fight gender-based cyber violence for this campaign because we think that violence is transmuted today online and so many people are experiencing hate crimes and cyber violence,” said Mathieu.

White roses were also placed on the memorial plaques of each of the 14 women killed 35 years ago. To mourn their loss, December 6th is also the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women informally known as White Ribbon Day.

“All those women were also part of a social network committed to the lives of the community. And what we lost is more than just a few women, it’s all what they could have done for the society as a whole,” said St-Arneault.

Laura Irina Martins Visanu, a sexology student at the Université du Québec à Montréal adding, “It’s really heartbreaking and the thing is, feminicides still happen to this day.

“It could have happened to someone I know and it’s very sad to see that the reality of back then is still, it still exists today, so we’re really fighting hard to make this type of violence stop, but it’s hard and it’s very difficult to make it stop.”