Fourteen mini white candles were lit after each of the victim’s names were called.
Fourteen white roses were placed next to the candles.
A moment of silence followed. A few tears were shed.
Western University held its annual remembrance assembly Friday at the Amit Chakma Engineering Building.
The community commemorated the women who lost their lives in the anti-feminist attack in Montreal 30 years ago.
A gunmen stormed into Ecole Polytechnique, an engineering school on December 6th, 1989. He killed 14 people, all were women.
Gillian Wilton, the president of the Women in Engineering Club at Western University
Three decades later, the Women in Engineering Club at the university continues to share the victims’ stories in hopes of preventing a tragedy such as this from ever occurring again.
“The [stories] of these 14 women inspire me to move forward everyday, to make a change, [and] continue supporting women in engineering,” said Gillian Wilton, the president of the club.
“Women can do it, women are equally capable.”
Lauren Briens, the assistant dean for first year studies in engineering spoke at the ceremony, which saw more than a hundred community members.
Briens was a third year engineering student at Western when the massacre took place.
Her voice was shaking when she was reminded of that day.
“My parents lived in Montreal at the time, and had seen the news. My mom was afraid, she needed to hear my voice. She needed that reassurance that I was okay,” said the assistant dean.
“[The shooting] was scary… it could’ve easily been Western University.”
Western Engineering students lit candles to honour the victims of the Ecole Polytechnique shooting. #December6 #LdnOnt #30years pic.twitter.com/0hlIXHdDMH
— XFM News (@XFMNews) December 6, 2019
Moving Forward
In 1989, the average percentage of women studying engineering sat at 15 per cent. Today, that number has risen to 22 per cent.
To bump it up even further, Engineers Canada has launched a campaigned called “30 by 30.”
It hopes to increase the number of female students enrolled in engineering to 30 per cent by the year 2030.
Wilton says despite the small population of women, she does not face discrimination from her male classmates, and the female students always support one another.
Elizabeth Blokker and Hailey Overend standing in front of the pledge tree
Two other engineering students, Elizabeth Blokker and Hailey Overend backed-up Wilton’s statement.
“I’ve never felt [different or singled-out] because I’m a woman,” said Blokker.
“I’ve never actually noticed the [gender imbalance] in my classrooms… I feel supported by both the men and women in my classes,” Overend added.
Following the ceremony, Blokker and Overend wrote a pledge on a leaf, and pinned it to the “pledge tree.”
“We wrote ‘We will always remember the 14 women who lost their lives, and we pledge to always take action against gender-based violence, and do whatever we can to stop it.'”
More than 50 leafs were pinned to the tree by the end of the ceremony.
