On Friday, Dec. 6, vigils will be held across the country on the 35th anniversary of the École Polytechnique Tragedy.
That day, shortly after 4 p.m., a man entered a mechanical engineering classroom at the institute in Montreal. After separating the women from the men, he shot and killed 14 young women. Another 13 were wounded. He then turned the gun on himself. The note he left blamed feminists for ruining his life.
The women were Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz. The youngest was 20 and the oldest was 31.
In 1991, Parliament declared Dec. 6 as a National Day of Remembrance and Action of Violence Against Women. The day is also known as White Ribbon Day. In November 1995, nearly six years after this mass shooting, Canada adopted stricter firearms control legislation.
The legislation is important, and the White Ribbon Day observances can help to keep this terrible tragedy in the minds of Canadians. Still, one should question if enough changed since Dec. 6, 1989.
The comments made by the shooter show attitudes that still remain. It does not take much effort to find someone spouting derogatory comments about women. Attitudes can eventually lead to actions.
In 2022, 184 women and girls in Canada were violently killed, most at the hands of men. Sexual assault is the only violent crime in Canada that is not declining. According to the Canadian Women’s Foundation, 30 per cent of women 15 and older report experiencing sexual assault at least once.
Gender discrimination and sexual harassment exist in some workplaces, and one recent study showed more than one-quarter of Canadians had experienced sexual harassment at work. Women are far more likely than men to receive this treatment.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for 2024 put Canada in 36th place worldwide out of 146 countries. Canada’s standing in these rankings has been falling in recent years.
A gender pay gap still exists in Canada, and the United Nations Human Rights Committee has spoken about this gap in Canada.
In the years following the École Polytechnique Tragedy, these trends should have changed.
Some progress has been made, but Dec. 6 is also a time to look at how far we have not come.
— Black Press
