VIRTUAL COMMEMORATION
Polytechnique victims remembered
Thirty-one years after a gunman killed 14 women at Montreal's École Polytechnique, survivors' demands for stricter gun controls have yet to be met, a virtual commemorative ceremony was told Sunday.
“I was one of them; 31 years later, we are still asking for simple ( background) checks,” said Nathalie Provost, who survived the massacre as a 23-year-old mechanical engineering student.
“I am still here, standing in front of you, asking you that we come together as Canadians to ask the government.”
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony was held via Zoom from the Place-du-6-décembre, where Provost spoke.
Speakers in this year's ceremony emphasized violence against Indigenous women, particularly Joyce Echaquan, who died in a Joliette hospital after recording degrading insults from a nurse and an orderly.
“Since 1980, 1,600 Indigenous women have disappeared or been murdered. That is the equivalent of 37,000 Canadians, or 8,000 Quebecers. Eight thousand Cédrika Provenchers went unnoticed,” said Innu artist Kathia Rock.
As in previous years, beams of light lit up the sky from the Mount Royal lookout. This year, the public was barred from attending.
Several politicians commented on the anniversary.
“On this National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, we mourn the loss of these daughters, sisters and friends who had such promising lives ahead of them,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.
“The safety of women must be the foundation of any society. Yet still today, too many women, girls and people of diverse gender identities and expressions face violence and discrimination in Canada and around the world. We still have a lot of work to do to ensure that they can live without
injustice, without misogyny, and without fear,” he added.
Trudeau noted that his government had banned more than 1,500 models and variants of assault-style firearms, including the weapon used at the École Polytechnique.
Quebec Premier François Legault said Quebec has a duty to remember, but also “a duty to act.”
“We must continue to work to prevent and combat all forms of violence against women,” he wrote on Twitter.