École Polytechnique massacre: Ceremonies mark 25th anniversary

École Polytechnique massacre: Ceremonies mark 25th anniversary

The Canadian Press

This article was published more than 11 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Montrealers paid tribute to 14 women on Saturday, 25 years to the day they were killed at the École Polytechnique because of their gender.

The 14 women slain at Ecole Polytechnique 25 years ago. (File/The Canadian Press)

The mood was sombre outside the building where Marc Lepine shot the women and injured 13 other people.

Michele Thibodeau-DeGuire, principal of the engineering school, laid a bouquet of 14 white roses at the foot of a commemorative plaque that bears the women’s names.

A woman lights a candle at the memorial plaque to mark the 25th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre Saturday, December 6, 2014 in Montreal. ( Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

Opinion

Read Elizabeth Renzetti's column on the massacre's anniversary: 

As we think about École Polytechnique, remember to look for the flowers

Two other bouquets were also placed at the plaque by members of the school’s administration.

The ceremony was followed by a torchlit procession through the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery.

A young girl holds the name of one of the victims during a ceremony at the memorial park to mark the 25th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre Saturday, December 6, 2014 in Montreal. ( Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

Lepine’s 20-minute shooting rampage at the Universite de Montreal’s engineering school in 1989 sparked a national gun-control debate that rages until this day.

Lepine took his own life following the carnage after ranting that feminists had spoiled his life.

Paramedics work outside the Ecole Polytechnique after gunman Marc Lepine opened fire at the school in Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989. (Shaney Komulainen/The Canadian Press)