DLM
12-06-2004, 11:28 AM
Sombre ceremonies mark 15th anniversary of Montreal massacre
MONTREAL (CP) - A day of remembrance began Monday when a bouquet of 14 white roses was placed at a memorial plaque honouring the women killed 15 years ago at the Ecole polytechnique engineering school.
Each rose symbolized one of the 14 women killed by Marc Lepine in 1989 in Canada's worst mass shooting. "It's a very sombre commemoration what takes place at the school," Chantal Cantin, a spokeswoman for the institution, said near the monument.
Other flowers were also placed by administrators, students and representatives of a chair that studies violence against women.
White ribbons, the symbol of the struggle to stop violence against women, were also distributed at the university and some subway stations.
All academic and social activities at the university were cancelled for the day. But those who made the annual pilgrimage to the school observed a minute of silence at 11 a.m.
Two-thirds of employees who work at the polytechnique were at work on that horrible day 15 years ago, said Cantin.
"For them, there are memories that resurface every year. So we deeply respect the individual ways to remember."
Although many of the institution's engineering students were too young to remember that fateful day, media attention and annual remembrances have helped to shape their own feelings about violence, said Cantin.
Similar acts of remembrance were being conducted in cities across Canada to mark an event that Prime Minister Paul Martin said continues to have a profound impact for Canadians.
"We were reminded that if we are to build a just society, we must work to end violence against women," Martin said in a statement out of Ottawa on Sunday to mark Monday's grim anniversary.
MONTREAL (CP) - A day of remembrance began Monday when a bouquet of 14 white roses was placed at a memorial plaque honouring the women killed 15 years ago at the Ecole polytechnique engineering school.
Each rose symbolized one of the 14 women killed by Marc Lepine in 1989 in Canada's worst mass shooting. "It's a very sombre commemoration what takes place at the school," Chantal Cantin, a spokeswoman for the institution, said near the monument.
Other flowers were also placed by administrators, students and representatives of a chair that studies violence against women.
White ribbons, the symbol of the struggle to stop violence against women, were also distributed at the university and some subway stations.
All academic and social activities at the university were cancelled for the day. But those who made the annual pilgrimage to the school observed a minute of silence at 11 a.m.
Two-thirds of employees who work at the polytechnique were at work on that horrible day 15 years ago, said Cantin.
"For them, there are memories that resurface every year. So we deeply respect the individual ways to remember."
Although many of the institution's engineering students were too young to remember that fateful day, media attention and annual remembrances have helped to shape their own feelings about violence, said Cantin.
Similar acts of remembrance were being conducted in cities across Canada to mark an event that Prime Minister Paul Martin said continues to have a profound impact for Canadians.
"We were reminded that if we are to build a just society, we must work to end violence against women," Martin said in a statement out of Ottawa on Sunday to mark Monday's grim anniversary.