The École Polytechnique Massacre

On December 6, 1989, a gunman entered École Polytechnique in Montreal and killed 14 women before dying by suicide. He separated women from men in a classroom and explicitly blamed feminists. The identity of the offender is known, but his death meant there was no criminal trial. Canada later designated December 6 as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

A concise timeline

1. December 6, 1989
   The campus is attacked

   Fourteen women are killed and others are injured at the engineering school.

2. That evening
   The offender dies

   He dies by suicide, ending the possibility of arrest or trial.

3. 1991
   National day established

   Parliament designates December 6 for remembrance and action on violence against women.

4. 1995
   Permanent memorial created

   Montreal establishes the Place du 6-Décembre-1989 memorial space.

5. 2019
   Thirty-year commemoration

   The victims are remembered nationally as students and professionals, not merely as a number.

6. Each December
   Remembrance continues

   Institutions hold vigils and renew commitments against gender-based violence.

Fourteen women in engineering

The women killed were Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz.

Many were engineering students close to graduation; others studied nursing or worked at the school. Naming them resists the tendency to make the offender the central character of the history.

Why language matters

For years, some public accounts described the event without fully naming misogyny. The offender's own words and selection of women make gender-based hatred central to understanding the crime. Recognizing that motive does not make all violence against women identical; it connects the attack to prevention and equality.

The phrase “solved” requires qualification. Police did not need to identify an unknown suspect, but a court never tested evidence or imposed a sentence because the offender died at the scene.

Memory as action

The national day asks Canadians to remember victims and work against gender-based violence. The White Ribbon movement, founded after the massacre, encouraged men and boys to participate in prevention. Universities also renewed discussion of safety, inclusion and women's place in technical fields.

Policy debates about firearms followed, but no single reform can be presented as the sole result of one event. The clearest legacy is a continuing public commitment: remembrance should support practical prevention rather than repeated exposure to the mechanics of the attack.