The École Polytechnique De Montréal

On December 6, 1989, at the École Polytechnique de Montréal, an engineering school at the Université de Montréal in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, a mass shooting occurred that shocked the entire country.

A 25-year-old man named Marc Lépine entered the school armed with a legally obtained semi-automatic rifle and a hunting knife. 

Lépine walked into a mechanical engineering classroom shortly after 5:00 p.m., separated the students by gender, and ordered the men to leave. He shouted that he was “fighting feminism” and then opened fire on the women in the room. 

Over the next about 20 minutes, Lépine moved through classrooms, hallways, and other parts of the building, targeting women specifically. By the time the shooting ended, 14 women had been killed, and another 14 people were injured, including women and a few men. Lépine then took his own life. 

All of the victims were women, most of them students studying engineering, and were killed because of the shooter’s hatred of feminism and women in fields traditionally dominated by men. Many of the injured survived but were deeply affected physically and emotionally. The women who were killed had bright futures ahead of them and were mourned subjects of remembrance across the country. 

Survivors and witnesses were traumatized by the violence; some continued to feel its effects years later. The shooting remains the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history until later incidents, and it deeply affected national conversations about gender-based violence, security, and gun control. 

Lépine left behind writings and statements blaming “feminists” for his perceived failures in life. His attack has been widely described as an anti-feminist act and an expression of misogyny (hatred toward women). 

At the time, Canada and Quebec were just beginning widespread public discussions about gender equality and violence against women. This tragedy spurred further work on both issues, with many activists and lawmakers pointing to the massacre as clear evidence of the need to address violence and discrimination against women in society. 

The massacre had consequences that went beyond the immediate shock:

The province of Quebec and the rest of Canada entered a period of national grief, with memorials and ceremonies held every year on December 6.  National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

In 1991, Canada established this day, observed each year on the anniversary of the shooting, to remember the victims and promote action against gender-based violence. 

The event influenced debates and policy changes related to firearm laws and emergency response procedures in Canada. 

There are plaques and memorial installations in Montreal near the school site to honour the 14 women who died.