The ceremony will honour the victims of the l'École Polytechnique Massacre and mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Prot Tachapanit/Dreamstime.com

By Olivia Thorington

IN THE COMMUNITY

Vigil at Medicine Hat College to honour victims of anti-feminist Polytechnique mass killing

Dec 6, 2024 | 11:30 AM

The Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society is holding its annual vigil Friday to honour victims of the Montreal Massacre and mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

On Dec. 6, 1989, a man entered a classroom in Montreal’s l’École Polytechnique, separated those inside by gender and opened fire on the women with a semi-automatic weapon, killing 14 and injuring 13.

Natasha Carvalho, executive director of the shelter society, said it’s important to remember the lives lost and advocate for a future with no gender-based violence.

“It was a tragic moment in Canadian history, and also deeply connected to the violence that is an every day realty for many women in our province, country and around the world,” Carvalho said in a statement.

This year’s ceremony will start at 5:30 p.m. in Medicine Hat College’s Centennial Hall.

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Shelters across Alberta answered 59,215 calls for help during 2022, the highest number of calls recorded in the past 10 years, according to a 2023 data release by the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.

Across the province, 8,483 individuals were sheltered that year, a 19 per cent increase from 2021.

Of those accessing shelter services, 71 per cent who completed a danger assessment were at severe or extreme risk of being killed by their partner or ex-partner.

The United Nations estimates that in 2023, 140 women and girls died every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative, which is the equivalent of one woman killed every 10 minutes.

In Canada, it’s estimated that more than 160 women have been killed so far in 2024, mostly by men in situations related to family violence or gender-based violence.

Representatives of l’École Polytechnique and student associations will lay flowers this morning at school’s commemorative plaque, where the public is also invited to pay their respects during the day.

The flags in front of Polytechnique’s main building will be flown at half-mast until dusk.

White ribbons will abound to commemorate the tragedy on what is also the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

At 5:10 p.m., at the exact time the first shots were fired, 14 beams of light will illuminate the sky above Mount Royal, lit one at a time as the names of the 14 victims are read out.

The women killed in 1989 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.

— with files from The Canadian Press