Geneviève Bergeron. Hélène Colgan. Nathalie Croteau.
Barbara Daigneault. Anne-Marie Edward. Maud Haviernick. Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz.
Maryse Laganière. Anne-Marie Lemay.
Sonia Pelletier. Michèle Richard. Annie St-Arneault. Annie Turcotte.
It's important to realize that this is not age-old violence against women. Women
have always been victims of violence and they will probably always it will
probably remain. Tonight before you, with you, I feel quite tender. On the 6th
of December 1989 we were hit with the loss of 14 extraordinary women. 30 years ago they
got up early in the morning trusting in the future and not just their future but
also our future. 30 years ago these women's respective lives and destinies were shattered which has left us with the
obligation to reflect on this loss. The Montreal massacre has left deep scars
for many in Quebec. 30 years ago today Marc Lépine walked into École
Polytechnique. He entered a classroom full of students he separated the men
from the women said he hated feminism and then started shooting.
He obviously hated not just women he hated feminism which I think is the the
thing we've missed mostly all these years it took us a long time to even
acknowledge here in Quebec that this was indeed a crime against women that this
was an act of terrorism. He was aiming women because they were women but he was
actually aiming women because he wanted to send a message of anti feminism and I
think it took us well until now oh actually to really look that in the
eye. This Memorial Park is dedicated to the victims of the attack and this year
the city changed the wording on the commemorative sign to specifically refer
to the act as an anti-feminist attack instead of simply a tragedy and some say
that's an important distinction. This was a crime about what was happening between
men and women and for me that is the lesson of the Montreal massacre which it
took a long time to come to grips with that some men we never thought this
would happen but that some men resent the fact of the changing roles to such
an extent that they become violent. I used to go to school with Sonia Pelletier we
know the victim. A girl that was very generous with people around very
discreet but the generous she was helping a lot of people it was a bright
girl especially in math. Every year I remember that I have two girls I try
to tell them the story so they will perpetuate memory and I think that's
important. At that time I just graduated from McGill engineering two years
earlier I was a young engineer working in the steel industry in Hamilton
Ontario and to hear that of the horrific tragedy that had occurred at École
Polytechnique has has stayed with me first for the last 30 years and I
think it kind of galvanized me to want to do the opposite of what the gunman
had wanted to happen where he would discourage women from going into
engineering in fact encouraged even more women to come into engineering and now
you are doing that you are galvanizing a project it's called 30 years later can
you describe what the gist of that is? Yes I'm the chair of the Public
Policy Committee for our engineering deans Canada group of Dean's across the
country and so in the summer I pointed out to some of my fellow Dean's that it
was the 30th anniversary and I thought that we should be doing something to
commemorate and mark this event since it had such an impact on our community and
so myself and a fellow Dean Suzanne Kresta who's the
Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan decided
that we wanted to put a different lens on what had happened and to look at
women and profile women that had graduated or were in school around the
time of the massacre and so we're deeply touched by what had happened personally
but then had gone on to fulfill their potential in terms of their engineering
careers and so we invited all the schools of engineering across the
country that had an accredited engineering program in 99 to submit the
profile of an alumna mm-hmm that really exemplified engineering and what women
bring to the profession. And as you were profiling you know the lives of these
women and finding things you know that you were in tune with is there anything
a specific story that really stood out for you? Well when look at the 30 women
we're profiling one thing that really stood out is the diversity of the
careers they've had as engineers we have an astronaut who's now our Governor
General Julie Payette. We have women that went on to be university presidents ones
a current university president right now the rector at Laval Sophie D'Amours we
have women that have gone on to take senior leadership roles in the financial
industry and we have women that have gone on to create their own companies a
couple of them went on to create very very successful companies and all of
them really wanted to do things to improve and help life for other people
so they're just a great diversity of perspectives in terms of the careers
that they've been able to achieve as engineers
By remembering we can
backtrack and go back to the present with something that makes our hearts
more peaceful. I'm reminded that uniting the spirit of solidarity and tenderness
We all turned a tragedy into a triumph of the human spirit.