Montreal Women

Joanna M. Weston

years have not

changed the aim
of the gun
that killed them
nor dimmed
the blight
of their dying

flames still flicker
at silent vigils
country-wide
to enshrine
their dying


The École Polytechnique Massacre, also known as the Montreal Massacre, occurred on December 6, 1989, at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  Twenty five-year-old Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained Mini-14 rifle and a hunting knife, shot 28 people, killing 14 women, before committing suicide. He began his attack by entering a classroom at the university, where he separated the male and female students. After claiming that he was "fighting feminism" and calling the women "a bunch of feminists," he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. He then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot. Overall, he killed fourteen women and injured ten other women and four men in just under 20 minutes before turning the gun on himself.