Ecole Polytechnique Massacre

    Today marks the anniversary of the massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989.  On that day, Marc Lepine entered the Engineering classrooms at the college with a rifle and shot 28 people.  14 women were killed:

Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968), civil engineering student
Hélène Colgan (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
Nathalie Croteau (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
Barbara Daigneault (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968), chemical engineering student
Maud Haviernick (born 1960), materials engineering student
Maryse Laganière (born 1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department
Maryse Leclair (born 1966), materials engineering student
Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967), mechanical engineering student
Sonia Pelletier (born 1961), mechanical engineering student
Michèle Richard (born 1968), materials engineering student
Annie St-Arneault (born 1966), mechanical engineering student
Annie Turcotte (born 1969), materials engineering student
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958), nursing student

   The rationale Marc Lepine gave was that he was against feminism.  These women were killed because they were women.  Because they decided to study in a non-traditional field.  While we hope the world has come further than this in the past 24 years, women are still often thought of as second class, or looked down upon for choosing a technical career.  Never forget these women.