It has been 30 years since a lone gunman walked into L’École Polytechnique de Montreal to kill 14 young women.
The "Montreal Massacre," as it came to be known, shook the country.
Linda Bussey, executive director La Federation franco-ténoise, was a 30-year-old student at L'Ecole Polytechnique at the time of the shooting but was studying an addictions program on another campus.
"It brings me back to my life there and what that day felt like," Bussey said. "You feel like a part of you is gone or you just feel like you lost something.
"It was very shocking. It changed so many things in Montreal at that time. There wasn't anybody who didn't feel bad or feel an emotion from it."
Simon Whitehouse/NNSL photo
This Friday, Yellowknifers will remember those who were lost in the act, those that have been lost since, and the reverberations gender-based violence has left on Canadian society and across the North.
Louise Elder, executive director of the Status of Women Council of the NWT, hosts the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women vigil every year. She said in an interview last week that there are a number of things to think about as the 30th anniversary is marked.
“This year is the 30th anniversary and we are highlighting that fact because it is significant,” Elder said. “We still live with the risk and threat of violence on a daily basis in our country and around the world.
“We don’t want to forget what happened and it is an opportunity for all of us to come together and remember these 14 women.”
Elder said the most sobering reality is that statistics involving violence against women, especially in the North, haven’t changed much over the last decade.
Figures from Statistics Canada show that the Northwest Territories has the second highest rate of family violence in Canada and has about eight to nine times the national rate of intimate partner violence - the vast majority of which is men on women, Elder said.
She said that young women in the North are more likely to experience violence including severe violence than women in Southern Canada of the same age and that across the country, a female is likely to be killed every two-and-a-half days because of their gender.
“When I look at the NWT, the statistics of violence are sad and unacceptable,” Elder said, calling the rates 'stubbornly high.'
“The reality here is very sad. We looked at reports over 10 years ago and we were the second highest and eight or nine times the national rate at that time. We just haven’t seen the improvements in the North.”
Elder said the biggest focus is to improve these trends by promoting cultural change and awareness and that the Dec. 6 vigil is an important part of that effort. Ensuring that a wide variety of women’s organizations can participate and that visitors leave the event reflecting on the seriousness of the issue are big goals every year at the vigil.
“We want people to come and walk away feeling like they participated in a meaningful manner,” Elder said. “We want them to take that time to remember these 14 women and all the other women we’ve lost and to walk away with a sense of remembrance. We usually encourage them to think about what they can do to be part of the change.”
Talking to men
Elder said a big part of improving the numbers that she sees is engaging with men on reducing gender-based violence.
"We are really encouraging men to attend the vigil," she said. "It has become a part of our regular dialogue to look at how we have to engage with men. They are part of the problem as well as part of the solution.
"We can’t advance gender equality if men aren’t working with us. "
Vigil and Laying of roses
Elder said the event presents an opportunity for partnering organizations like the YWCA, the Yellowknife Women's Society and Native Women's Association to come together.
The vigil will take place from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Calvary Community Church and will include selected members of the community laying 14 red roses to remember each of the women killed at L'Ecole Polytechnique.
A 15th, purple rose will be laid to commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. A final red rose is then laid during the ceremony to remember all who have lost their lives to violence over the 30 years since the massacre.
The event this year will include a group lighting of candles. Each guest will receive a candle when they arrive and a volunteer will commence the lighting of a candle to then be passed among the guests.
Women in engineering
An important part of the vigil continues to be noting the slain women were in the engineering field, which is considered lacking in female role models.
Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and Minister of Infrastructure Katrina Nokleby, a professional engineer, is one of the sponsors this year and has been a strong supporter of the vigil every year. She agreed that remembering the 14 women includes reflecting on the loss of potential advances for women in a male-dominated field.
"For me, I'm 42 and I would have been coming up behind these women in my profession," she said, noting that she is aiming to speak and advance the need for women in engineering as much as possible. "So I look at this as a loss of 14 of my colleagues and my potential mentors. It isn't an abstract thing that happened 100 years ago. These are women that would have been in the workforce with women like myself."
