A tragic day in Montreal 30 years ago today will be memorialized across the country.
On December 6, 1989, an armed man murdered 14 women and injured 13 others at École Polytechnique de Montréal. Their deaths sparked a nationwide movement condemning violence against women. In 1991, the Parliament of Canada declared a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
Universite de Moncton is one of 14 facilities across the country chosen to project a beam of light into the sky, each one representing a victim..
Acting Dean in the Engineering Faculty Gabriel Cormier says this is their way to pay tribute, “A way for us to look forward. So, we’re remembering, not to forget, as reminder there are still improvements to do, but we also need to look forward and remember what women Engineering students have done since 1989.”
Flags will fly at half staff on all of the campuses.
Activities on the Moncton campus will be organized by the Status of Women Committee of the Moncton campus, together with Regroupement féministe du Nouveau-Brunswick and the Love Shouldn’t Hurt program. The day’s activities include kiosks, a photography exhibition, a silent walk, a commemorative ceremony, the unveiling of a memorial site and a panel on the subject of violence against women.
Cormier says there have been some very successful women Engineers since then. Today they mourn the past, they celebrate the future.
“In Moncton, the student population is now 25 per cent women approximately, compared that to 15 years ago, it was around 11,” Cormier says.
The National Council of Deans of Engineering has just released a website with 30 profiles of women Engineers in Canada and their accomplishments since that time.
Activities at the two other U de M campuses, include:
On the Edmundston campus, the university community and public at large are invited to a ceremony at 11 a.m. in the lobby of the Simon-Larouche pavilion.
The activity will be organized by comité Égalité UMCE.
A candle for each of the victims of the attack will be lighted, and a representative of the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation will present a silent silhouette representing women who lost their lives in acts of domestic violence. Representatives of L’Escale MadaVic (a transition house for abused women and their children) and L’Éclipse (a support centre for victims of sexual abuse) will introduce guests to the services offered by their organization.
On the Shippagan campus, the Table de concertation pour contrer la violence conjugale et familiale dans la Péninsule acadienne inc. and the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, Shippagan campus, invite the university community and surrounding population to a silent walk that will take place at 12:45 on December 6, by the Irène-Léger pavilion’s main entrance.
The walk will be preceded by a special meal in the UMCS and CCNB-PA cafeteria.
Donations received during the day will be donated to L’Accueil Sainte-Famille that provides women who are victims of domestic and family violence and their children with support services and comforting and safe housing.
A silent walk will also take place at the Bathurst UMCS site, at 12:30 on the same day.
In Fredericton, a candlelight memorial to commemorate the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women was held earlier today at Government House at 51 Woodstock Road.
Sherry Wilson, the minister responsible for women’s equality, took part.
