Polytechnique memorial sparks calls for action

Thirty-six years after an antifeminist attack that killed 14 women at Polytechnique, Montrealers gathered at Place du 6-Décembre-1989 to honour their memory.

At the commemoration organized by Les 3 sex, the focus was on remembering the victims and on naming the violence that women, including migrant women, continue to face today.

“Many of us are worried,” said Amel Zaazaa, Director of the Observatoire pour la justice migrante, as she highlighted the growing anti-immigration climate that has intensified over the past two years. She said this shift has a disproportionate impact on women, pointing to measures such as Bill 94 and, more recently, Quebec’s new secularism bill, which was tabled during the 12 Days of Action to End Violence Against Women.

“These laws keep women from doing their jobs just because of what they wear,” Zaazaa said. “It feels like we are going back 50 years.”

Flowers were laid at 14 monuments on Saturday to honour the women who were murdered.

PolySeSouvient coordinator and survivor Heidi Rathjen expressed frustration that, 36 years later, key gun-control promises remain unfulfilled, including a full ban on assault weapons such as the SKS.

“Other than the freeze on new handgun sales, there has been no concrete progress on the substantial and important measures that were passed or promised,” Rathjen said. “Another message is that we need to ban large-capacity magazines. This has been on the radar for years. We have received strong commitments from the Liberal government to ban at least modifiable magazines. You can buy magazines designed to hold 30, 50 or even 100 rounds. They are pinned at five to make them legal, but people can easily remove the pin, and many mass shooters in Canada in recent years have done exactly that. Unfortunately, it is scandalous that this was not reiterated last night. The message is that it is not a priority anymore.”

Zaazaa emphasized the essential role of feminist organizing in Quebec’s progress. “Every major step forward in Quebec society happened because of the feminist movement,” she said. “That is why it is so important to stand strong, stay mobilized, come together in spaces like this and never let ourselves be silenced.”

“Everybody can do something,” added Mylène de Repentigny-Corbeil, Executive Director of Les 3 sex. “It is important to put pressure on our politicians and governments to do more, because more needs to be done.”

Rathjen also had a message for the Carney government.

“Our message to the Carney government is that this situation is very frustrating,” she said. “For over ten years we have had debates, consultations and promises, and even a law that was passed but still not implemented. There is almost no change on the ground. Bill C-21 was adopted two years ago, yet the key measures to remove firearms from domestic abusers are still not in place. We do not understand why.”