Most students at École Polytechnique were not born when a gunman named Marc Lépine rampaged through their school 27 years ago and killed 14 women.
But the anniversary of the shooting still has meaning for students, said Clara Levy-Provençal, the president of the student union.
“It’s very important to commemorate this anniversary every year, so it can never happen again,” said Levy-Provençal, 23, a Paris native. “It’s one of the first things I learned about when I started here. It is a tragic event and something that’s still incomprehensible that it happened here.”
On Tuesday morning, Levy-Provençal was one of four people to lay white roses at the plaque to commemorate the women who were killed. The silent ceremony at 8:30 a.m. lasted about two minutes, but students were invited to spend time in the memorial area throughout the day and commemorate the event in their own way.
A student in civil engineering, Levy-Provençal said there is still work to be done to increase the number of women studying engineering, even though the numbers have increased significantly at Polytechnique.
“I think attitudes have changed a lot (since the massacre),” she said. “We feel very protected here at Polytechnique; it’s good to feel comfortable here, even if women are a minority.”
Photos: 2016 memorial for École Polytechnique massacre victims
People gathered to remember victims of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre.
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![Flowers at the plaque commemorating the 14 women killed at École Polytechnique Dec. 6, 2016, on the 27th anniversary of the massacre.]()
Flowers at the plaque commemorating the 14 women killed at École Polytechnique Dec. 6, 2016, on the 27th anniversary of the massacre.
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![Clara Levy-Provençal and Joël Girard-Lauzièrehe lay flowers at the base of the plaque commemorating the 14 women killed at École Polytechnique Dec. 6, 2016, the 27th anniversary of the massacre.]()
Clara Levy-Provençal and Joël Girard-Lauzièrehe lay flowers at the base of the plaque commemorating the 14 women killed at École Polytechnique Dec. 6, 2016, the 27th anniversary of the massacre.
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![Joel Girard-Lauziere, left, Christophe Guy, Clara Levy-Provencal and Michele Thibodeau-DeGuire, right, share a moment of silence at the plaque commemorating the 14 women killed at École Polytechnique Dec. 6, 2016, the 27th anniversary of the massacre.]()
Joel Girard-Lauziere, left, Christophe Guy, Clara Levy-Provencal and Michele Thibodeau-DeGuire, right, share a moment of silence at the plaque commemorating the 14 women killed at École Polytechnique Dec. 6, 2016, the 27th anniversary of the massacre.
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![Clara Levy-Provençal takes a moment to remember the victims of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, Dec. 6, 2016.]()
Clara Levy-Provençal takes a moment to remember the victims of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, Dec. 6, 2016.
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![People look at the memorial plaque in honour of the women at École Polytechnique on the 27th anniversary of massacre in Montreal, Dec. 6, 2016.]()
People look at the memorial plaque in honour of the women at École Polytechnique on the 27th anniversary of massacre in Montreal, Dec. 6, 2016.
Christophe Guy, the CEO of Polytechnique, said the school is proud of its efforts to encourage women to go into the engineering profession. The most recent example is a $30,000 scholarship given to a female engineering student wishing to pursue a graduate degree anywhere in Canada.
“We want to remember the terrible tragedy, but we also want to look at the future and work to change the future,” Guy said. “This scholarship allows us to do this while remembering the women who died.”
Since the Polytechnique massacre, there were two more shootings in schools in Montreal (at Concordia University and Dawson College), and school shootings have become a nearly regular occurrence in the U.S.
Guy said aside from encouraging women to pursue engineering, it should be everyone’s mission to curb violence against women and identify people who are at risk of causing harm to themselves and others.
“Unfortunately there are more tragedies, but we must never consider this to be normal,” he said. “It’s through education that people will understand that we can disagree with others, but we should never hurt or kill others.”
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