Engineering Now .: Volume 3 - Edition 5 .: December 2006
Victims remembered
Judy Miller, London Campaign Coordinator for the Neighbours, Friends and Families campaign, spoke at the 2007 Montreal Massacre Memorial Service.
December 6 marks the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. The sixth of December is a somber day for Engineering schools across Canada as it is the anniversary of the 1989 murder of 14 female engineering students at L'Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal.
Western Engineering faculty, staff and students host an annual memorial service on this day to remember the deaths of the 14 students from Montreal and Lynda Shaw, a 21-year-old Western Engineering student who was murdered in 1990 while returning to Western after a holiday weekend with her family near Brampton, Ontario.
Miranda Restorick, a fourth-year Mechanical Engineering student, led this year’s memorial service by recounting the tragic events of December 6, 1989.
“Seventeen years ago on December 6, Marc Lepine, entered a classroom of engineering students and ordered all the men to leave
while yelling, “I hate feminists. You're all a bunch of feminists. Feminists need to be taught their place.'' After the men left the room, Lepine lined the women up and shot them from left to right, all women were hit. Lepine then persisted through the corridors of Montreal's École Polytechnique shooting 27 people total, killing 14 women and then himself.”
Restorick ended her remarks by reminding everyone that although the service is a time to mourn the loss of these female victims, the day is also about self reflection.
“Today we should remember the victims as people, not a symbol of the cause. We need to take a look at ourselves and see what we can do to help stop violence against women.”
Judy Miller, London Campaign Coordinator for the Neighbours, Friends and Families campaign and guest speaker at the event, completely agrees.
“The community needs to come together to help put an end to violence against women,” explains Miller. “Violence is preventable but people need to know what to do to stop it. Our campaign provides the resources to assist the victims and the community.”
The Neighbours, Friends and Families campaign is a partnership between the Ontario government, Ontario Women's Directorate and the Expert Panel on Neighbours, Friends and Families, through the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children at The University of Western Ontario.
The grassroots campaign has created resources to raise awareness of warning signs of woman abuse and to provide information about safety planning. Resources include public service announcements, brochures and wallet cards. To learn more about the campaign and the information it has assembled, please visit:
www.neighboursfriendsandfamilies.on.ca.
Victims of the Montreal Massacre
Geneviève Bergeron
Hélène Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Barbara Klucznik Widajewicz
Maryse Laganière
Maryse Leclair
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Michèle Richard
Annie St-Arneault
Annie Turcotte
Also from this web page:
Contact
.: Allison Stevenson
Spencer Engineering Building, Room 2074
Telephone: (519) 850-2917 Fax: (519) 661-3808
contactwe@eng.uwo.ca
