Read on Twitter
I wrote for @FLAREfashion about the 30th anniversary of the École Polytechnique shooting and what the next 30 years of National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women might look like. As always, it is an honour to write about December 6th https://www.flare.com/news/ecole-polytechnique-victims/
Every year when I am preparing to write my December 6th piece I go down the rabbit hole of reading about it, and every year I am hit by a fresh wave of grief. Every detail is so excruciating. Especially as a parent with a school-aged kid who has lockdown drills.
This year the thing that did me in was reading about the art installation Nef Pour Quartorze Reines (Nave For Fourteen Queens). I love it, but God how I wish those women could have had ordinary lives and not have to be commemorated as dead queens https://artpublicmontreal.ca/en/oeuvre/nef-pour-quatorze-reines/
I watch this video every year and am always astounded by Polytechnique survivor Nathalie Provost's remarks at the end. I can't imagine having gone through that and then going on television and telling girls everywhere to study engineering. She is a hero https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1989-gunman-massacres-14-women-at-montreals-cole-polytechnique
Unsurprisingly, she is still an absolute force to be reckoned with https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nathalie-provost-gun-committee-1.5213130
Sorry, that first link is the wrong one! This is the Nathalie Provost one, at 4:10 is the clip of her speaking from her hospital bed and asking girls everywhere to not be afraid to pursue engineering. This whole interview is amazing. https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/montreal-massacre-victim-employed-as-engineer
Francine Pelletier, who was on Lépine’s list of women he wanted to kill, has done so much work over the years to have the events of December 6th named for what they are: misogynist, anti-feminist, a hate crime. It was an honour to interview her last year https://www.flare.com/news/marc-lepine-feminists/
Just this year the wording on the memorial in Montreal was changed to reflect the actual nature of the shooting. @MontgomerySue has done so much incredible work to make this happen https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/polytechnique-sign-change-1.5346715
