In Montreal this evening fourteen light beams will rise from the top of Mount Royal, one by one into the sky. One for every woman murdered in the École Polytechnique Massacre 30-years-ago. Murdered just for being women, by a man who hated feminists.
They were so young, they were so full of hope in the future.
Only to have their dreams of being engineers, so long reserved for men, brutally extinguished in a few murderous minutes. And then have their legacy defiled by Stephen Harper and his bestial Cons. Who like the Scheer Cons cared more about god and guns, than they cared about women and girls. And didn't give a damn about the effects of gun violence.
The bastards. I remember how angry I used to be to see the gun lobby treat the murdered women as The Enemy for making them look bad. I remember how they insisted that the massacre was the work of a madman not a misogynist. And how some of them threatened to kill me for refusing to believe that cowardly lie. So I can't tell you how relieved I am to see that after thirty years, attitudes are finally changing. At last, 30 years later, the reluctance of officialdom to call what happened what it was has been made right. A new sign has just gone up in the Place-du-6-décembre-1989, a memorial park at the base of the U of M campus, on the corner of Decelles Street and Queen Mary Road.
The old sign said only that there had been a tragedy.
The new sign states that 14 women were murdered in an anti-feminist attack at École Polytechnique on Dec. 6, 1989. It condemns all forms of violence against women. And that the legacy of the Montreal Massacre is finally being rescued. It also makes me happy to know that we now have a prime minister who supports women's rights, and is proud to call himself a feminist.
Who is working to curb gun violence. And who will be on Mount Royal tonight when those fourteen beams of light rise into the sky.
So after so many years I can at last feel sure that the legacy of those murdered women will live on. Always remember their names. Geneviève Bergeron, 21 - Hélène Colgan, 23 - Nathalie Croteau, 23 - Barbara Daigneault, 22 - Anne-Marie Edward, 21 - Maud Haviernick, 29 - Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, 31 - Maryse Laganière, 25 - Maryse Leclair, 23 - Anne-Marie Lemay, 22 - Sonia Pelletier, 23 - Michèle Richard, 21 - Anne St-Arneault, 23 - Annie Turcotte, 21 Always honour their memory...
And keep their precious legacy alive. By demanding an end to the violence against women and girls. And fighting forever for a more equal world...
In my last post I wrote that I would try to stay away from the fake scandal as it sinks slowly into the swamp of history. But one thing about that shabby feeding frenzy still bothers me. And that's the way the Cons and the other toxic Trudeau haters tried to portray him as a "fake feminist." In a crass attempt to smear him, and damage the cause of women's rights that he has championed since he came to office. So I'm glad to see someone demolish that fake news argument.
Of all the good things that Justin Trudeau has done since he liberated us from Stephen Harper's monstrous regime, the one thing I like the most is his support for women's rights. For there is no bigger or better or more pressing issue than finally assuring the equality of women. And I can never forget how the very first thing Harper did when he came to power was order that the words "women's rights" be deleted from thousands of government documents.
For it was at that very moment that I realized that he was weird and evil. And that we were now dealing with a group of hardline Republican-style ideologues like this country had never seen before, and I have been fighting them ever since. So I'm really happy to see that in the Trudeau government's new budget the equality of women is front and centre.
In Montreal this evening, fourteen rays of light will rise into the sky, one after the other, from the summit of Mount Royal. So all Montrealers can see them, and remember the fourteen young women who were murdered twenty eight years ago today at the École Polytechnique. Murdered by a man who hated women.
I can't remember a more inspiring sight than the sight of all those millions of women and their supporters marching in Washington and all over the world. Or one that cheered me up more. I was worried that the ghastly predator Donald Trump would get away with all his crimes against women. But the women made it clear he won't.
When I watched Hillary Clinton campaigning yesterday, I was impressed by the angry defiant look on her face. And by the fact that she's still standing. For it has been a brutal week. She has been stabbed not once but twice in the back by the FBI.
A rise in Obamacare premiums has given Donald Trump another weapon to use against her.
You might think that after all that happened at the CBC this year, Rex Murphy might know when to press the mute button. You might think that with all those horrible stories about violence against women, that nasty Con dwarf might exhibit a smidgen of human decency. But no, he'd rather use his last National Post column of the year to dump all over the feminist movement.
I didn't want to write about these women again. It bothers me too much. I've already said what I wanted to say.
But the thought that so many appear to have forgotten them makes me so angry, I feel I just have to keep speaking out.
Or let people like Susan Riley say what I would say.
What a bitter spectacle: MPs from all parties, except the Bloc Québécois, caving to a decades-long campaign by disgruntled gun owners, to U.S.-inspired attack advertising in targeted ridings and to self-interest to issue a death warrant to the long-gun registry
They capitulated to a well-orchestrated disinformation effort, rather than fighting back with reasoned argument and proposed improvements to the existing registry -- rather, that is, than appealing to values, values they conveniently ditched to save their skins.
Dismissed, also, are the victims -- relatives of the women killed at the ÉcolePolytechnique, modern-day parents like Elaine Lumley, whose son was shot dead crossing a street in Montreal in 2007. Lumley was on the Hill this week, shocked and stricken by the vote -- but she couldn't get a hearing, perhaps because she doesn't fall into the Tories' approved victim category.
If they were more concerned with fighting crime than scoring ideological victories, our MPs would find a way to fix the registry, not ditch it. Instead, this week's reversal is a symbolic and emotional blow to victims of gun crime -- and a disgrace to their skittish supporters.
Because it's all so true. it is a bitter spectacle. And it is an appalling betrayal.
Not only are these ReformCons forgetting the women of the Polytechnique, they're stripping their deaths of meaning. And dismissing 20 years of heroic feminist struggle to try to make Canada a safer place.
By taking on the powerful gun lobby, and the women hating Cons who would turn Canada into a blood soaked mirror image of gun crazy Amerika.
Long guns are the most common type of firearm used in spousal homicide, according to the RCMP. With restrictions in place against them, the number of women murdered with firearms dropped by 62 per cent between 1991 and 2004.
So where are the progressive voices of protest? Where are all the strong feminists? Why the deafening silence?
Did these women really die in vain?
Did one of the most important feminist struggles in modern Canadian history really mean nothing?
Didn't we learn ANYTHING?
And what kind of country are we becoming? Those are the questions that haunt me.
Oh no.What bad timing for the Reform Cons. It's gun hate day in Amerika.
Just 24 hours after their disgusting little gun love day in Canada. And can you believe those scummy Cons? They hid this report until after the vote was over. Even though it it involves the safety of police officers. Those dastardly crime police busters. And can you believe that so many progressives MPs folded like cheap suits or cowards? By caving in on a Reform Party style free vote...instead of acting like members of a party with PRINCIPLES. What will the next "free vote" be on I wonder... ABORTION? But what I also found disheartening was the number of progressive bloggers celebrating the death of the Gun Registry. Including some of the best, most decent and progressive ones.
I'm not going to single anybody out, or deal with their arguments. I dealt with most of them last night. But I would ask ALL of those progressive bloggers why NONE of them bothered to mention that filling out a form could save the life of a police officer? Does the kinder gentler Canada we are trying to build really include a society full of unlicensed guns? What does progressive really mean? Because I'm confused eh? And how, since some of them are such strong feminists, could they all have forgotten to mention the women of the Montreal Massacre?
Not just the ones who died or were injured, but all the others who fought the powerful gun lobby for years to bring in the gun registry, and make sure the victims didn't die in vain. People like Suzanne LaPlante-Edward who believes a gun registry might have saved her daughter. (PDF) We victims of gun violence want more than tears, white ribbons, and kind words. We want action. The semi-automatic Ruger Mini 14 used at the Polytechnique in Montreal is still sold as an unrestricted hunting rifle. With C-391 we will no longer know who owns these guns or the 7 million other rifles and shotguns in Canada. In most cities there will be more information about who has cats and dogs than who owns firearms. Doesn't her opinion count? Or the opinions of so many other victims of gun violence. Isn't it worth more than the yapping of gun owners too lazy to fill out some forms...or the teabagger screeching of the Con's rabid Reform base?
You know a month today we will mark the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. And I can't think of a better way for some progressives to prepare, than reading up on that terrible day.Studying the history of the heroic feminist struggle that followed.
Fighting to FIX the gun registry ...if it needs fixing...rather than letting these ReformCons and their stooges DESTROY it.
Or as I said yesterday, just watching this movie...
Because we need to decide what sort of a gentler, kinder, more civilized society we want to build.
