On Mont-Royal the crusted snow
Reflects the cross’s nightly glow
Out into space.
The night is nigh,
And we who’ve not forgotten, cry
And roar our pain and rage and woe
And mourn the dead.
Twelve years ago
He swore, since women dared to show
They were his peers, their blood would flow
From Mont-Royal.
And we remember, here below,
Beneath the mount wherein they lie;
If you forget that women die
They will not sleep beneath the snow
Of Mont-Royal.
in memory of the fourteen young women engineering students murdered at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, December 6, 1989, and in memory of all victims of violence against women.
matt, I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that the killer had changed his name to a French Canadian name. He was the son of an Algerian immigrant and his birth certificate had an Arabic name, Abdul Ahmed or something like that. Algeria is a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism and, in the nineties, a democratic election was invalidated by military coup because a fundamentalist regime was elected. My personal theory is that this was a screwed up guy in a quest for his roots. In the light of the Taliban’s hatred of women and hatred of North American society my theories about this young Arab man have been strengthened. I keep quiet about it because of the tang of racism but it is annoying to me to hear feminists try and blame my culture for this massacre. I was born and raised in Canada and have been a pretty macho guy…working in lumber and mining camps, the oil business, but I’ve never had the slightest problem with women getting educations and having careers and I’ve spent at least eight years working for woman bosses and I’ve supported them and given them 100%. Neither I nor my culture need feel any guilt whatsoever about this particular grotesque and evil crime. Nor do I respect that certain political sphere that attempt to use it to advance their own particular hate agenda.
Having said all that, I do appreciate efforts to raise awareness of violence against women. There’s still too many newspaper stories of men killing their wives and children and then offing themselves. It’s got to be the most common form of murder in Canada today. If the Montreal massacre is used to raise awareness and somehow reduce these incidents then I whole-heartedly support the solemn remembrance ceremonies on its anniversary.
I remember the mass killing in Montreal, but had no idea that it was gender motivated.
Violence against women doesn’t just happen under ‘fundamentalist’ Islam. Here is a situation that is very close (within 10 km) of my home, but barely gets noticed in the American press.
Many sociologists believe it isn’t just “random” violence, but the result of male resentment of the preference of female workers by the factories. A basically non-existent local police force doesn’t help either.
The violence against the women in Montreal was not motivated by religion, it was motivated by evil, and mental sickness.
Do not take this issue, and remembrance of this issue as an excuse to condemn a different religion, or even a different political regime. The Taliban are evil enough - they don’t need additional crimes added to their roster.
Every day in Canada women of every religious background are attacked by men of every religious background. That is what this memorial is about - violence against women. Remember that, rather than using it to fuel a political agenda.
Al.
BTW - Matt - that was a lovely poem - as one of the addressees, thank you.
I did a little Googling and, although there are a lot of websites discussing Lepine, I couldn’t find anything on his background or life story in the short time I spent. One website did mention “he was born Gamil Gharbi”.
Every year Lepine’s crime is discussed in the press. I do recall rare mentions of his brutal Algerian father who beat him a lot with belts etc. when he was a child. The information is out there somewhere. Do some research matt, you’re more of a political animal than I am and the spin on Lepine should be more interesting to you than me because of the political haymaking around his crime.
I don’t want to sound like I’m anti-muslim. I’ve spent years working in muslim countries, I lived in tents in the desert for months with bedu when I was 22, and I have deep respect for Islam. The muslim men I’ve known were all gentle and civilized, just regular guys, and their wives and children healthy, happy, and respectfully treated. I’m not against immigration either, immigrants are very good for our country. I just know that there’s a lot of bad guys out there and there’s usually an explanation for how they ended up that way.
jaimest, thanks for the interesting link to the Mexican crimes.
Well, thanks for that information, Al. Google provided a link to the 5th estate’s piece on Lepine that provided the relevant details. Apparently his father was Algerian and his mother was Québécoise.