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You are so right there, Janey, as you say, not all of women's problems delivered by men involve physical violence...the word abuse is like a large umbrella!
Lizx
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I do remember this day very very well indeed
My husband taught in a university, albeit the other end of the country.
I had a teenage daughter
and I consider myself a feminist,
so the horror of what Marc Lepine did was only too real for me.
His mother wrote a book last year, all about how it had affected her.
sylvia
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Do you know, Liz, I don't really remember myself - it's one of those "where were you, what were you doing" moments in our modern history here, like when JFK was killed, but I too was absorbed in major personal-life tangles at the time (the alcoholic addict trying to destroy my life, even if not deliberately - not all of women's problems delivered by men involve physical violence ...).
I feel privileged to have read the report I had to read, but the sadness it prompts is so ... really, to see a description of each woman, what she was wearing, where she was killed, how she was killed, in such truly intimate detail, it's heart-breaking; that's my own internal experience of the event, and hard as seeing it all was, it is important to have.
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Unusually for me, as I have strong recall on many things, I don't remember this awful outrage on my own sex, but maybe it was because at the time my father was dying of cancer.
May those killed by that evil man be resting in peace now, and may those who escaped death at the time be proud of their fellow sister students and proud of whatever they themselves have made of their lives since then.
Lizx
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Hansard, December 3 this week:
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode
=1&Pub=hansard&DocId=4292108&File=0
Ms. Irene Mathyssen (London—Fanshawe, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, December 6 is a day to remind our nation that we must end violence against women. We must remember the 14 women who lost their lives for no other reason than that they were women.
I would also like to thank my colleague, the former NDP member for New Westminster—Coquitlam, Dawn Black, for ensuring that Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganiere, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Maryse Leclair, Barbara Klucznik and Annie Turcotte, with 14 others who were wounded that day, are never forgotten.
Thousands of women in Canada and around the world experience violence on a daily basis, many at the hands of partners and relatives. Women, who are marginalized by society, such as aboriginal women, women in the LGBTTQQ community, immigrants, refugees and disabled women, are further marginalized by the violence and abuse they experience. Young women and girls are most at risk of physical and sexual violence. A coordinated national effort is needed to end this terrible injustice.
We must and we can do much more to prevent the violence that so many women face. Violence against women is one of the greatest violations of human rights, but one that is rarely recognized. It is now the 20th anniversary of the Montreal massacre and the situation for many women has not improved. We must continue to commemorate this anniversary and remember not only those who died that day but all those who have been killed, injured or gone missing since then.
If we look back at the last several years, it is painfully obvious that the aspirations and needs of Canadian women have been neither considered nor respected. It has been more and more challenging for women to speak out against violence and to advocate for change. Shelters have received more and more requests for services in some areas and an over 100% increase in requests for help.
We all need to work together to end violence against women. We need to ensure that women who face violence have the resources they need to escape that violence and to not live in fear: the fear of violence, the fear of poverty or the fear of death. December 6 is a day to speak out against violence against women: the physical violence of a gun or a beating, the psychological violence of abuse or the economic violence of poverty.
The Speaker:
I invite hon. members to rise and observe a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the tragic events that took place 20 years ago at the École polytechnique de Montréal.
[A moment of silence observed ]
Hon. Helena Guergis (Minister of State (Status of Women), CPC):
Mr. Speaker, there have been a number of consultations and I believe that you will find unanimous consent of the House for the following motion. I move:
That this House mark the 20th anniversary of the Montreal massacre at École Polytechnique and the adoption in 1991 of the National Day of Remembrance Act to commemorate the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against women in response to this tragedy.
The Speaker: Does the hon. minister of state have the unanimous consent of the House to propose this motion?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
The Speaker: The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
The Speaker: I declare the motion carried.
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..... and young women are still fighting discrimination in many areas of the engineering profession!
There will be a candle lit ceremony tomorrow at the memorial to these women (that also commemorates all women killed by violence) in Vancouver
Thanks Janey for posting this
sylvia
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Dear Janey
Hello
Yes, I remember.
Sending healing and caring thoughts to all affected by this.
Take care.
Very sincere wishes
xx
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It's almost December 6 where you all are, so I thought the time would be right.
December 6, 1989, Montreal.
Probably doesn't mean anything.
If I say ...
December 6, 1989. Montreal massacre.
http://archives.cbc.ca/society/crime_justice/topics/398/
"For 45 minutes on Dec. 6, 1989 an enraged gunman roamed the corridors of Montreal's École Polytechnique and killed 14 women. Marc Lepine, 25, separated the men from the women and before opening fire on the classroom of female engineering students he screamed, 'I hate feminists.' Almost immediately, the Montreal Massacre became a galvanizing moment in which mourning turned into outrage about all violence against women."
Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the event that turned us upside down here.
In the course of my work a few years ago, I had to read the coroner's report on the deaths -- both the report on the investigation into the emergency services response, and the individual post mortem reports. The intimate details of each woman's body and death; the socks she was wearing, the path the bullets had travelled through her body, the damage they had done. It's very hard to even think about now.
We commemorate the event here with candlelight gatherings in public. My city, like many, has a monument to women victims of violence in a small local park.
And this year, we renew our opposition to Conservative government efforts to abolish the firearms registry, and wish we could tighten restrictions on the kinds of weapons that are used for these sorts of horrors.
"A gunman confronts 60 engineering students during their class at l'École Polytechnique in Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989. He separates the men from the women and tells the men to leave the classroom, threatening them with his .22-calibre rifle. The enraged man begins a shooting rampage that spreads to three floors and several classrooms, jumping from desk to desk while female students cower below. He roams the corridors yelling, 'I want women.'
Before opening fire in the engineering class, he calls the women 'une gang de féministes' and says 'J'haïs les féministes [I hate feminists].' One person pleads that they are not feminists, just students taking engineering. But the gunman doesn't listen. He shoots the women and then kills himself. "
From today's Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/734817--lessons-of-the-montreal-massacre?bn=1
"Lessons of the Montreal Massacre
Twenty years ago Sunday, Nathalie Provost yelled 'We are not feminists' as Marc Lépine sprayed her and her classmates with bullets. Today, the engineer and mother of four says: 'I realized many years later that in my life and actions, of course I was a feminist'
Provost was one of the lucky four who survived. 'At the time, I thought to be a feminist meant you had to be militant,' says Provost, who today is overworked and feeling skittish as the anniversary approaches. She was the young woman who, from her hospital bed a couple days later, urged Canadian girls to not be frightened by the event and to pursue engineering careers. She was also my introduction to feminism in life, not just theory. And to the concept that the personal is political.
'I realized many years later that in my life and actions, of course I was a feminist. I was a woman studying engineering and I held my head up.'
... If you are one of those young women who says you aren't a feminist, you haven't heard this story. Or you have forgotten. We've all grown complacent."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre
* Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
* Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
* Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
* Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
* Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
* Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
* Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department
* Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
* Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
* Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
* Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
* Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
* Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
* Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student
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