Tossing Pebbles in the Stream

Friday, December 04, 2009

Canada Remembers

It has been 20 years since Marc Lepine walked into L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal with a semi automatic rifle and separated the men from the women and then proceeded to murder 14 female engineering students. The crime library calls in gendercide. We call it the Montreal Massacre. Lepine thought women were the cause of his problem and he deliberately chose this engineering school where women were enrolled in studies dominated by men.

It was a day of violence that shocked Canada. It eventually lead to better gun control laws and the gun registry. I believe more women responded by marches to "take back the night" to assert their rights to live and move without fear in the community, day or night.

I have written about this in previous years. If you want more of the detail go here.

I think of these young women. They would be in their forties now, probably with families of their own and involved in careers. Who knows what their contributions to society might have been.

In a way, their deaths galvanized a generation of women and raised the national concern for violence against women.

There continues to be far to much violence against women in our culture. I shall never understand hostility too many men have toward women. At least. in part, they turn their rage on women because they can. Society need to insist that is never acceptable at any level, whether in the home or in the community. Canada was nudged to make some improvements to better protect women, but more needs to be done.

I also think of Madam Lepine, the mother of the murderer. She has lived with knowing her son did this. She also lost her son that day. For years, she was silent but recently I have heard her speak on radio of the effect of this day on her. It has been a hard cross for her to bear.

We need to remember these women's names and think of their contributions in life lost to us all.

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

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

WE REMEMBER

Today is the anniversary of the massacre of the female students at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989.

This is the National Day of Remembrance and Action On Violence Against Women.

On that dreadful day Mark Lepine entered the school with an automatic weapon and a list of young women to kill and murdered fourteen female engineering students. He died that day also.

We remember this group of women

Geneviève Bergeron (b. 1968), civil engineering student.
Hélène Colgan (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Nathalie Croteau (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Barbara Daigneault (b. 1967) mechanical engineering student.
Anne-Marie Edward (b. 1968), chemical engineering student.
Maud Haviernick (b. 1960), materials engineering student.
Maryse Laganière (b. 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department.
Maryse Leclair (b. 1966), materials engineering student.
Anne-Marie Lemay (b. 1967), mechanical engineering student.
Sonia Pelletier (b. 1961), mechanical engineering student.
Michèle Richard (b. 1968), materials engineering student.
Annie St-Arneault (b. 1966), mechanical engineering student.
Annie Turcotte (b. 1969), materials engineering student.
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (b. 1958), nursing student

This event is celebrated each year by women and men in Canada to remember and reenergize their resolve to end violence against women.

Canada has been changed by this event. Gun control and the issues around violence against women became issues that have not gone away. It was through these efforts that gun registration and continuing efforts to restrict guns in Canada became a persistent reality for us all.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

We Remember

It was on this day in 1989 that Marc Lepine massacred 14 female engineering students at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.

(Click on photo to enlarge)

These young women were in the prime of their lives entering a profession still dominated by men. For their killer it was a hate crime against women.

Canada was changed forever by this mindless crime. Canada, under the leadership of women, redoubled its efforts to bring about effective gun control. To a large degree this has been accomplished with changes in legislation. It certainly has made gun control a widely accepted value in Canada, which contrast with our American neighbours.

If you want to read a little about this crime read Marc Lepine - The Montreal Massacre - The Crime library or École Polytechnique massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Montreal Massacre Remembered

It was 19 years ago today, December 6, that Marc Lapine entered the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, with an automatic weapon and killed 14 female engineering students, after sending the men out of the room.

Lapine hated women. I need not say more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre

Memorial Plaque to the 14 Women

The women were individual with every reason to hope for a bright future. They were making their mark in a male dominated profession. Today 17 years later they would be at the height of their careers, no doubt with families and possibly children of their own looking forward to adulthood. They are no doubt deeply missed by family and friends. Also, their deaths have left an indelible impression on Canada and our understanding of ourselves.

As a result of these killings, Canada was galvanized to bring about more effective gun control. Women, in particular, have also been mobilized to resist violence against women in our society. To the extent these efforts have born fruit, they give some meaning to the senseless lose of these women.

'Till the day I die, I will never understand men who justify to themselves to be abusive toward women, verbally and physically.

I do not consider my upbringing extraordinary but somewhere along the way, I was taught to never be abusive toward women. I have never raised my hand in anger toward a woman or even been verbally abusive. I credit my mother for this. I can hear her admonitions even now. "You must never, ever, under any circumstance, hit your sister. Some day you will be much bigger and stronger than her.!" "You must never hit a woman." This went along with being polite and respectful toward women. My father also was respectful toward women and never hit my mother. I only remember a few occasions of loud discussions after I went to bed
(I still remember how upset they made me: frightened and insecure.)

I am inclined to blame the mother's of abusive men. Where were they when lesson should have been taught to son. (This is an oversimplistic answer, I know. Human behaviour is very complicated and shaped by many factors.) I do know my mother left an impression on my. I would like to know why treating women properly was so important to her. I thank her for it.
I would have trouble facing myself if I took out my demons on a woman.

I also have trouble understanding women allowing themselves to be treated abusively. I don't believe any of the women I have loved and been close to would have tolerated abuse for a minute. Need I say I like strong independent women which may explain why I live alone today.

Society must judge abusive men very harshly. It is not acceptable at all.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Virgina Tech Massacre

For Canadians, we have seen before the horror of the irrational rampage at Virgina Tech. It was in 1969 at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. Mark Lapin walked into the college and killed 14 enginerring female students and wounded 14 other male and female students before killing himself. There is no comprehension of this kind of behaviour in a civil society. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ãcole_Polytechnique_Massacre

We all grieve for those more directly involved and we may even question our own Society and the risks involved in being an open and trusting community. There is no defense against such a rare but terrifying event. We must resist the temptation of adopting draconian measures to limit our personal freedom and turn our back on the trusting nature of community.

Besides the Montreal Massacre, I am thoughtful of the plight of students in Iraq. In that beseiged country they have the equivalent of two Virgina Tech incidents EACH DAY. There have also been hundreds of University Professors and administrators assassinated. It takes enormous courage to be a student on that country. Strangely, there is little acknowledgement of this "collateral damage " of the American War and Occupation of Iraq. I wish more people cared about the innocent Iraqis. Rocky Mountain News - Denver and Colorado's reliable source for breaking news,

In a relateded matter, I also just read that 70% of Iraqi children suffer from emotional trauma from what they are living through. Would someone explain to be how the effort to turn Iraq into a vassal state to control it oil resources is worth all the carnage!

If an insane individual goes on a killing rampage we are all horrified and aghast but if a Nation state does it in our name it is celebrated as necessary and even heroic. In almost all instances it is neither. It is just the same kind of insanity.

I found it hypocritical and distasteful to see President Bush try to identify and sympathize with the Virginia Tech tragedy. For me his sympathy is thin indeed, as one who must be held responsible for so much pain and suffering in this world. All during his remarks, I am reminded that he is a war criminal responsible for the hundred of thousands of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. Where is the sympathy for the innocent of those two country.

For a couple of days, I have watch the American media covering of the tragedy in Virginia. It has degenerated into a ghoulish rehashing of the events and wild speculations to fill dead air time, as only the mass media can do it. I find it is time to move on and stop being a voyeur in other people's suffering. To it's credit, the CBC, decided to not broadcast the video images on TV or the audio text on radio, which were sent to NBC. The CBC feels they encourage copy cat events.
Out of respect for the grieving people I think it is a commendable decision.

In the end respectful ways will be found to remember the victums of this tragedy, which forever will be a part of Virgina Tech.

Hopefully, in the weeks and months ahead we will hear of some jesture or programs that will stand for a long time to remind us of the loss of these individuals whose lives were full of promise and hope and now are gone, leaving an emptiness in the lives of family and friends to whom they were so precious.