Revelstoke Women’s Shelter reminds students of Dec. 6

Twenty-seven years ago on Dec. 6, 14 women were targeted for their gender and killed at a Montreal university. Students at Revelstoke Secondary School learned about this during their lunchtime where the Revelstoke Women’s Shelter Society held an information booth.

The shelter does an event every year for Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. A number of students came and asked questions.

“We picked the high school this year to educate the youth about violence and specifically violence against women,” shelter team leader Lynn Loeppky said.

Students at Revelstoke Secondary School visit the Revelstoke Women’s Shelter Society information booth. Photo: Emily Kemp/Revelstoke Mountaineer

On Dec. 6, 2012, Marc Lepine, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, walked into the engineering department at I’Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. He separated the male and female students in a classroom and after shouting that he hated feminists, then he shot the women.

Lepine, who then shot and killed himself, had applied for admission to the engineering school earlier that year and was rejected. In the suicide note he left behind, Lepine indicated that he saw feminists as being responsible for everything that had gone wrong in his life.

“Today is about raising awareness and remembering the women,” Loeppky said.

Candlelight vigil for Canada’s National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Photo: Emily Kemp/Revelstoke Mountaineer

Many of the women killed were young students, such as student Anne-Marie Edward at 21-years-old — she loved skiing. Hélène Colgan was 23 and in her final year of mechanical engineering. She had many job offers already and was also planning on doing a masters degree.

The other women were Geneviève Bergeron, 21. Nathalie Croteau, 23. Barbara Daigneault, 22. Maud Haviernick, 29. Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31. Maryse Leclair, 23. Annie St.-Arneault, 23. Michèle Richard, 21. Maryse Laganière, 25. Anne-Marie Lemay, 22. Sonia Pelletier, 28. Annie Turcotte, 21.

“On this day, it is important not only to mourn the deaths of these young women, but to take a moment to think about women who live daily under the threat of violence, who have died through acts of violence, and who have survived violent situations,” Loeppky said.