On December 6th, 1989, 14 women were murdered in an event known as the Montreal Massacre at the École Polytechnique in Montréal, Québec. Twenty-five year-old Marc Lépine entered a classroom and separated the men from the women. After saying that he was "fighting feminism", he shot every woman in the room, and then moved throughout the hallways of the school, specifically targetting and shooting women, ultimately turning the gun on himself. His rage seemed to stem from the fact that these women were studying engineering, a typically male-dominated field. This attack came at a time when many people thought that feminism had done its job; it was a disturbing awakening for many. In the years following, December 6th became a day to pay tribute to the women who were lost in the tragedy. For the past few years, the Women’s Centre has held a ceremony in recognition of this date and to raise awareness about violence against women as a whole.
