Twenty years ago, a man walked into an engineering class at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and went on a shooting rampage. But this was different from all the other mass murders in Canadian history. In this instance, Marc Lépine separated the women from the men and systematically killed 14 female students before turning the gun on himself.
On Saturday (December 5)—one day before the 20th anniversary of the attack—Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter is holding an all-day event, beginning at 10 a.m. at the south plaza of the Vancouver Public Library’s central branch. It’s designed to educate the public about violence against women.
In an interview with the Georgia Straight at the shelter, one of the organizers of the event, Daisy Kler, pointed out that Lépine left a note listing many prominent Canadian feminists he planned to kill. It included a transition-house worker and the first female firefighter in Quebec. Kler described Lépine’s actions as a political attack on the women’s movement.
“It is very important to understand that the motive was misogyny,” Kler emphasized. “The message was that the women’s movement was very much resented by men and he [Lépine] was an extreme example of that.”
Saturday’s event will go beyond discussion of the massacre and will outline the violence women still face today. It will incorporate feminist-led discussions, speakers, films, art, and a role-playing exercise called “Walk in Her Shoes”. This interactive activity will feature five scenarios showing different women facing violence in their lives. People will be encouraged to walk through the display and learn about the obstacles these women face. Each situation leads participants through the system that a woman would face when trying to leave a violent relationship.
Another event organizer, Louisa Russell, helped create the interactive exercise with the help of transition-house residents, volunteers, and rape-crisis callers. She told the Straight that “Walk in Her Shoes” will show the public how hard it is for B.C. women to leave an abusive situation.
“By the end, we hope people will see how difficult it is for these women to leave successfully,” Russell said, “and that it does become a little easier if you have a group like Vancouver Rape Relief or a women’s group with you through the process.”
Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter takes in more than 120 women and their children each year and has housed more than 3,000 in its 36-year history. It operates as both a transition house for abused women and a rape-crisis centre.
Kler decried the lack of political will to address violence against women and claimed that the public largely supports the preventive measures her organization provides. She stated that “ordinary people” do not know that both Vancouver Rape Relief and Women Against Violence Against Women—the only other rape-crisis centre in the Lower Mainland—do not receive operational funding from the provincial government.
“We see the abysmal response of the B.C. Liberals to issues such as violence against women and funding for lifesaving services like rape-crisis centres and transition houses,” Kler said.
At the December 5 library event, the women who were brutally murdered by Lépine will be remembered on a public stage—a location purposely chosen in order to demonstrate the strength of the women’s movement. With regards to the setting, Kler said, “I think Marc Lépine wanted to close down the doors and opportunities for women and make us fearful and not be so public, and our response is the exact opposite.”
She also claimed that no male leaders stood up and defended feminists after the massacre. “We expect to be defended as feminists, as civil-rights activists, as women who are participating in the struggle and freedom for women,” Kler said. “So we take the library on purpose because it is a public space and we want to be out, loud, and proud as feminists.”