Western Engineering, the Undergraduate Engineering Society and Women in Engineering paused today to honour the memory of the 14 women killed at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal in 1989, along with Western’s Lynda Shaw, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student murdered near Highway 401 in 1990.
In what remains the deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history, 12 engineering students, one nursing student and a university employee – all women – were killed in what has become known as the Montreal Massacre by a man whose manifesto said he was out to kill feminists.
Western Engineering professor Lauren Briens, BESc’94, PhD’00 (Chemical Engineering), spoke today of the impact of this tragic event and how the profession has changed in the last 30 years. Engineering students were on hand to light candles in memory of those who were killed. The event was held at the Amit Chakma Engineering Building.
Western News presents a special collection of thoughts commemorating the 30th anniversary of this watershed event by inviting a handful of Western community members to reflect on the lessons that still echo – and even on those still ignored – three decades out from that tragic day.
