Seven years have passed since 14 young women, most of them engineering students, were gunned down at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique by a man who claimed to hate feminists. The massacre shocked and stunned Montreal and plunged the entire country into mourning. Each year since, the country has paused on Dec. 6 to remember the young women who were cut down before they could fully realize their hopes and dreams and to reflect on the toll taken by violence against women in our society.
UVic will once again honour the memory of the slain Montreal students with a memorial ceremony on Dec. 6 at noon in front of the MacLaurin Building facing the quadrangle. The women's choir Philomela, under the direction of Prof. Susan Young of the School of Music, and the Women's Movement dance group will perform. Norma Mickelson, a member of UVic's Board of Governor and former Dean of Education, will lead the ceremony. All members of the campus community and the general public are invited to attend.
Following the ceremony the Women's Sexual Assault Centre will hold an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. in its Student Union Building (SUB) location and all are invited to the SUB Upper Lounge following the service to talk, watch performances and use the open mike. Women are invited to the Women's Centre for an afternoon open house. From Dec. 2 to 6, engineering students will focus on the history and current status of women in the engineering profession through a poster display in the lobby of the Engineering Lab Wing. The half-hour video After the Massacre will be shown in Human and Social Development Building Room A240 at 2 p.m.
CFUV (102FM) will broadcast the memorial service at 6 p.m. that evening
and will continue to broadcast programs relevant to the Montreal massacre
and issues of violence in society until 10 p.m.