🧵 On 6 December 1989 a man entered a mechanical engineering classroom at Montreal’s École Polytechnique with a semi automatic weapon. Separating women and men, he shot the women, screaming, “You are all feminists”
14 women were murdered. Today we remember their names and not his.

Annie Turcotte was a woman ahead of her time: committed to nature and finding ways to protect it. She was 21 years old when she was killed. Her mother said that despite the years, Turcotte is “forever our darling daughter… We’ve always kept her very much alive in our house.”

Michèle Richard, or Mimi, as she was nicknamed, had a brilliant smile and a calming presence. Her boyfriend who was in her class when she was killed said Richard was “a gentle girl, happy, brilliant, beautiful. She lived every moment intensely. She abhorred violence.”

Sonia Pelletier was the person who won every competition and secured every scholarship. She liked rock music and to cook. Pelletier was 28 years old and just days from graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering and a transcript of straight As when she was killed.

Maryse Leclair was a rebel who did not care what people thought of her. She liked British punk and new wave music. her father, Lt. Pierre Leclair entered the school that day and found Maryse dead near the man who killed her. “We think of our daughter every day” he told media.

Maryse Laganière was a shy newlywed with a beautiful smile. was 25 when she was killed, was a budget clerk for the school’s finance department. That’s where she met the “love of her life,” JF Larivée, in 1986.

Anne-Marie Lemay 22, studied engineering because of a close friend who lost the use of his legs. She was known for her ability to connect with people and visited him weekly to help with his rehabilitation. And it was there that she realized the importance of mechanical devices.

Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz spoke 5 languages and had a “great deadpan sarcasm.” Born in Poland and fled to Germany after the country was put under martial law. Canada seemed safe,she thought, 31 years old and in her first year of nursing science at the school when she was killed

Maud Haviernick was, first and foremost, an artist. She chose to go back to school at École Polytechnique to fulfil her dream of being an engineer and studying materials engineering.
She was killed giving her final presentation for her metals class, along with her classmate.

Geneviève Bergeron was smart enough to earn a scholarship and also talented enough that she was still vacillating between a career in engineering or in music. Bergeron played clarinet and sang in the choir at the MSO. Geneviève was sweet, generous and bubbling with life.

Anne-Marie Edward loved skiing — a sport she did at school and with her family.
It was so near to Edward’s heart that she was buried in her school team ski jacket
Her mother told La Presse that Edward would be proud to see her memory being used to end misogyny.

Barbara Daigneault was not someone bound by conventional limits.
When she was just 7 years old, she asked why she could never become pope. She would ultimately follow in her father’s footsteps and study engineering. She loved shrimp omelettes and chocolate cake with whipped cream

Nathalie Croteau was outgoing and enterprising with a passion for learning, particularly when it came to science.
Croteau was 23 when she was killed, just a couple of weeks shy of celebrating New Year’s Eve in the hot sun in Cancun, Mexico with her close friends.

Hélène Colgan was 23 years old in early December 1989, just weeks shy of a trip with her friends to ring in the new year. It would have been a well-deserved rest, according to her father. She was a strong and conscientious girl

Annie St-Arneault was curious, meticulous, intensely caring and always searching for adventure. She was 23 when she was killed while attending her final class before graduating from mechanical engineering studies.

So cozy! ❤️

Sigh. I don’t think I’ve met a woman who hasn’t been told she’s “ too much”

Sadly, I think a lot of women feel this way.