CREDIT: ERIKA FAUST

On December 6, the London and Fanshawe communities paid tribute to the 14 women who were killed on this day in 1989 l'École Polytechnique de Montréal in Quebec.

Twenty-three years have passed since the day a gunman entered the school and killed Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik Widajewicz. We reflect and remember them each year on December 6.

Photo credit: Melanie Anderson
A Fanshawe student representing one of the 14 women killed on December 6 prepares for the ceremony outside the Alumni Lounge in SC building.

Photo credit: Melanie Anderson
A flag bearing the signatures of community members who had taken the Pledge of Nonviolence was displayed at the ceremony.

Photo credit: Melanie Anderson
Fourteen female Fanshawe students representing the 14 women murdered at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal began the ceremony by placing a candle and a flower at each woman's picture.

Megan Walker, executive director of the London Abused Women's Centre in London, remembered hearing about the tragedy on December 6, 1989 with her two young daughters, at that time aged two years old and eight months old. Walker was 28 years old, the same age as Sonia Pelletier, a mechanical engineering student killed in the massacre. “(The gunman, Marc Lépine) took their lives, he took their dreams, he took their desires... because they were women,” she said.

“We need to stand up and value women. They are our mothers, our sisters, our daughters,” she said. “They are human beings, fully capable of changing the world.”

Now known as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada, December 6 represents an opportunity for Canadians to reflect on the issue of violence against women in our society. It is a time to consider the women and girls who face violence as a daily reality, and to remember those who have died as a result of gender-based violence. It is a day when communities can consider concrete actions to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.

If you or someone you know is in an abusive situation, there is help. On Fanshawe's campus, you can contact Counselling and Accessibility Services for support in Room F2010, by phone at 519-452-4282 or by email at counselling@fanshawec.ca. For support in the London community, you can contact the London Abused Women's Centre (lawc.on.ca) at 217 York St. or by phone at 519-432-2204.