Guelph engineering students remember lives lost in Montreal massacre

Fourteen white roses were held by 14 current engineering students at the University of Guelph Tuesday afternoon during a vigil, marking the tragedy and deaths that occurred at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, on December 6th 1989.

Each of the 14 roses, represented the 14 lives lost that day. All of the victims were female engineering students in search of a bright future.

A bouquet of yellow roses, were also laid in honour of those who did not lose their lives in 1989, but did have their lives forever changed.

“It’s important to remember the things that have happened, so they don’t happen again” fourth year engineering student, Durham Langille said. “There are a lot of important woman in my life who are in the STEM field and that's why I decided to come today.”

University of Guelph School of Engineering Director, John Runciman, reflected on the tragic events.

“It resonates on a number of different levels, fear is one of them, and responsibility I would say,” he said.

Other students see the tragic reminder as a push for change, against ongoing violence against women.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, instances of gender based violence increased, calls to shelters and police stations,” Helena Cunic, co-president of the engineering half of the University’s Women In Science and Engineering Club said.

“It still is a very prevalent issue and I think it’s important to remember what happened 33 years ago and how it’s still kind of happening today,” Cunic added.

Jana Levison, associate professor of engineering, said December 6th is always a somber day at the School of Engineering, and across the industry – one that some said remains widely male dominated.

“At the undergraduate level here we have about 26 per cent of students who are female identifying and at the graduate level it's 32 per cent. So it is slowly growing and we hope to reach 50/50,” Levison said.

Guelph Engineering Society President and student, Jasmine Monique Vergara said she feels empowered being one of the 26 per cent, “I think right now I am pretty lucky.”

Going on to say, “because I am in a different generation where being a woman in engineering might have meant one thing before to cause such an act, but now I just see myself as anyone else who's in engineering.”

At the end the ceremony a candle was lit and placed in the permanent memorial garden, which specifically memorializes the Montreal event.

Along the hallway facing the garden, are posters of the 14 woman who lost their lives, information about what they were studying and what they could have been.

“These woman could have been leaders in their field, CEO's, CFO's, astronauts, anything you can think of and that was stuffed out,” engineering associate professor, Abdallah Elsayed said.