The Montréal Massacre: Why it STILL matters (and will never stop mattering)

Ten years after that terrible mass murder on this day in ’89, Francine Pelletier — a Québec journalist specifically mentioned on Marc Lépine’s kill list — delved into the whys and wherefores of the Massacre. Not just what made Lépine a “deranged” killer, but also what he in turn left behind. And why this act was not that of a mere madman, but of a political assassin with terroristic purposes in mind. Because it was done specifically to cow women and drive them out of the engineering profession, among others.

Fortunately, despite years of persistent setbacks ever since, the Massacre failed to accomplish what its perpetrator intended for it to do. Women are still leaving the house, still getting educations, still working, still progressing. Even I, who was a student at the time and the same age as many of the victims, and who spent the next year and a half looking over my shoulder everywhere I went, never even contemplated giving up my studies.

We may be persecuted, we may be threatened, raped, even killed, but we are not looking back. Or GOING back.

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