Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.
I was 18-years-old when the 14 women were gunned down. As an earlier adopter of feminism, I had already done much of the reading required of a budding feminist and had some very decent mentors in place.
When the Montreal Massacre happened, it rocked my young world. Twenty years have gone by and never have I forgotten that day. Throughout my life, I have remembered.
I remembered the 14 women the year after the massacre, as I sat in my first year university lectures, imagining what it would be like for someone to walk into my lecture hall and kill me – because of my gender.
I remembered the 14 women as a graduate student working with women’s groups – planning memorial services for December 6th.
I remembered the 14 women when I was at law school, choosing subjects like Feminist Legal Theory and writing papers that focused on gender, violence, Battered Women’s Syndrome, etc.
I remembered the 14 women when I worked at a women’s legal service, having to go through security to get into the building and working behind bullet proof glass. All that because of the men in the lives of our clients.
I remembered the 14 women when I gave birth to my first daughter on International Women’s Day in 2001, wondering what her life would hold and what the women of her generation would face.
And how do I remember the 14 women now?
I remember them as I raise my sons and daughters. I remember them in simple ways – conversations with my children, the way I use language, through setting expectations and by bucking gender stereotypes within our home. Feminism is not a big scary word. It is founded on the basic principle that women have choice – the choice to have six kids, the choice to have none.
The choice to become an Engineer.
When do you remember the 14 women?
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I was 18 too, Julie, and also an early adopter of feminism. I remember for the first time ever I was truly scared about being a girl/woman in this big world. I too will never forget. Thank you.
I remember the day like it was yesterday. I had a baby girl in my arms and cried for those women and for my daughter. Today I am reminded how angry I am at my government for dissolving the gun registry. It wasn’t perfect but it was something.
I am encouraged when I read your blog. Thank goodness for women like you.
Thank you for remembering the 14 women and not the one man. All too often it is his name that is mentioned in the articles or news pieces about that horrible day 20 years ago.
I was nineteen when it happened and was totally traumatized by the whole thing. I couldn’t believe it. School shootings were something that happened “somewhere else”. The senseless violence came home to us that day and compromised the safety and security that I had always felt as a Montrealer. This is brought back to me every year when I see the inevitable story in the Gazette on December 6. I always stop and shed some tears for those 14 women and their families and remember how thankful I am for everything that life as given to me and my family.
Thank you for sharing.
Wow, what a powerful blog post. Thank you, Julie.
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