Remembering a Tragedy
Did you know December 6th marked the 21st anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, a tragedy that left 14 young women dead?
Agincourt Branch Youth Advisory Group member Annie, currently in Grade 9, wrote this to commemorate the recent anniversary:
"For years, women have been working hard to overcome inequality. They have been treated unfairly by the population—pre-dominantly the other gender. An example of this is the incident at the École Polytechnique in 1989. The Persons Case, a fight for women’s rights in politics, portrays that women are “persons” too.
What happened that evening at École Polytechnique was not an accident. A mistake, perhaps, but not an accident. On December 6, 1989, fourteen young, aspiring souls were murdered by Marc Lépine because of one fact—they were female. As a child, Lépine had been frequently abused by his father, who was very violent towards children and women. Lépine’s childhood had been torn apart due to the constant problems between his paren'ts. He had turned into an anti-feminist, and he showed that to the world through the École Polytechnique massacre. He did not even know the people he murdered personally. Those 14 women did not deserve to die. That is why every year on December 6th is a Day of Remembrance for those women that died because of their gender."
Learn more about the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women at the Status of Women Canada website: http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/dates/vaw-vff/index-eng.html
There are also a number of books and dvds available on this topic through the library catalogue:
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