I knew I wanted to photograph this park, It is a memorial to the women who were slain on December 6, 1989 by Marc Lepine in the École Polytechnique (the engineering school) at Université de Montréal. Their only fault was that they were women. Lepine stated in his suicide note that he was fighting feminism. He specifically targeted women in his rampage and fourteen lives were lost. This event is commemorated each year, and as I won't be in Montreal on the 6th I thought I would feature it today.
The event remains a horror to all who remember. I find it hard to think of it with dry eyes. The only positive is that Canada has enacted a gun registry (which is in jeopardy under our current prime minister).
The rain was pelting down as I stopped to take this photograph, fitting weather for the subject. The memorial was created by sculptor, Rose-Marie Goulet and is called Nef pour quatorze reines (Nave for Fourteen Queens). Each woman is represented by the large marker and her name in stylized writing.
We will not forget
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
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
