Flowers lay at a memorial for the victims of the 1989 École Polytechnique mass shooting, in Montreal, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. Dec. 6 marks the anniversary of the anti-feminist massacre, which left 14 women dead and 13 others injured. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

By Jesse Gill

VIGIL TO BE HOSTED

Medicine Hat vigil to mark the 36th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre

Dec 4, 2025 | 6:00 PM

The Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society is inviting the community to attend its annual ceremony to honour the victims of the l’École Polytechnique Massacre and mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

This year’s ceremony will take place on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 4:30 p.m. in Centennial Hall at Medicine Hat College.

“36 years ago, 14 women were killed at l’École Polytechnique in a horrific act of violence and hatred towards women,” said Natasha Carvalho, Executive Director of the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society.

“It was a tragic moment in Canadian history, and also deeply connected to the violence that is an everyday reality for many women in our province, country and around the world.”

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.

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

“This is why the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women remains important decades after the Montreal Massacre: As a way to remember the lives lost, and to speak for a future where there is no more gender-based violence,” said Carvalho.

On Dec. 6, 1989 a gunman entered l’École Polytechnique. Within 20 minutes, he had killed 14 women and injured many others before killing himself.

He specifically separated and targeted women, saying he was “fighting feminism.”

Police later found a suicide note with a list of 19 Quebec women he considered to be feminists and wished to kill.

The Canadian Government declared Dec. 6th the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

Memorials across Canada are held to remember the women killed in the Montreal Massacre, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and all others who are affected by gender-based violence.

Dec. 6 also falls within the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, an annual UN campaign that begins with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Nov. 25 and runs until Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.