At a time when the United States is going through yet another spasm of gun violence.
And I see how some wing nut in that country reacted to this editorial in the New York Times.
I'm glad that I live in Canada, and grateful that today is National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
And that Justin Trudeau, our new Prime Minister attended a ceremony on Mount Royal, where 14 beams on light were projected into the sky.
To remember these Canadian victims of gun violence.
Twenty-six years after they were murdered by a man who hated women.
The day, first established in 1991, marks the anniversary of the 14 women killed in a mass shooting at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal.
It’s been 26 years since Marc Lepine took a 223-calibre Strum-Ruger rifle, separated the men from the women in an engineering class, ranted about his hatred of feminists, and went on a shooting spree before killing himself.
And I'm also encouraged to see that all over the country, Canadians also gathered to honour their memory...
And remind us that the war on women continues, and that as a society we've got to do much more to stop it.
I'm also glad that Quebec is moving ahead with plans to bring back the gun registry.
Quebec will create its own registry for non-restricted firearms, Public Security Minister Pierre Moreau announced Thursday, more than three years after the Conservative government passed a law abolishing the federal long-gun database.
Because whatever people in the rest of the country think about it, it was their precious legacy, and the legacy of those who loved them, and at least in Quebec it will be honoured.
And I'm delighted to see that the Trudeau government is planning to tighten up our gun control laws.
Because we can't do enough to try to prevent another massacre like this one...
Or prevent our country from becoming another blood soaked Amerika. The home of the violent and the crazy.
Which reminds me, people who love guns more than people please spare me your comments. Over the years I have received hundreds of vile, hate filled diatribes. So now I delete them on arrival.
I know your position, you're welcome to it, and you know mine.
And because I have seen close-up the effects of gun violence, and because my heroes are healers not killers, and because I'm with the nations's first responders, I too will NEVER change my mind.
Or forget how Stephen Harper used the gun registry debate to divide Canadians...
And express his undying contempt for the rights of women.
But now is not the day to bring up that horror. Or Harper's hideous legacy.
Now is the time to recommit to the struggle against the violence inflicted on women.
As we take back our Canada, work to make it safer.
And remember these murdered women and all the other victims...
I know it has been a long time. I know some people would rather I let sleeping ghosts lie. And some would clearly like to kill me for daring to question their "right" to own as many guns as they want.
But some stories help define the country we are or want to become.
And they must never be forgotten...
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11 comments:
The registry was their legacy? Wow what an insult, they really did died for nothing.
Let There Be Guns
http://arrogantworms1.bandcamp.com/track/let-there-be-guns
How American gun deaths and gun laws compare to Canada's
http://www.nationalobserver.com/2015/12/04/news/how-american-gun-deaths-and-gun-laws-compare-canadas
Gun Industry Executives Say Mass Shootings Are Good for Business
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/03/mass-shooting-wall-st/
I have never been convinced that the long gun registry was worth the money expended although the enforcement of better gun storage laws may have been worth it.
I like the look of the other parts of the Liberal platform especially to investment in border infrastructure, invest in technologies to enhance our border guards’ ability to detect and halt illegal guns from the United States entering into Canada.
It has been and probably still is far to easy to get a gun across the Canada-US border. Perhaps Donald Trump has the right idea just in the wrong place. We could build a wall along the southern border to keep out American guns and charge the Americans. the Alaska border is probably not worth fortifying.
hi anon...no they didn't die for nothing. Their deaths set off a massive debate about gun control, and violence against women which I believe helped make us a better country. The fact that there is still so much violence aimed at women though tells us there is much work to be done....
hi jrkrideau...my interest in the registry is mainly concerned with the info it gave police officers and paramedics called to some location where guns are involved. I know people say first responders should be prepared for anything, but it doesn't work out that way in real life, and in that regard it was a useful tool. But you're right we have a huge problem with the amount of guns young criminals are getting their hands on. And I would make cracking down on that a priority....
hi David...yes it madness. First comes the tragedy caused by too many guns in the hands of the wrong people, and then comes the madness with even more people buying even more guns. It's absolutely insane...
Their sad deaths have just been turned into mawkish yearly carnival of male hate.
Any validity or value this event held vanished long ago.
As well as the endemic, grating poverty many women face due to a lifetime of pay differentials and fewer prospects, this was an impetus for the Bread and Roses march a few years later, which was the starting point of the World March of Women.
What on earth is "male hate"? Yes, I know that there are sad cases like anonymous 10:50 am who hate us, but no, I don't think that most men are that way.
Quebec is doing the right thing by bringing a provincial gun registry into being. Lets hope we have a new national one also.
Killing women just appears to be a right some men think they have and it happens all over the world.
Don't hate you, just pity you.
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