Every year on December 6, I remember,

we remember and honor the women of Montreal who were hunted down and murdered by an insecure looser. Using the excuse he had mental health problems fails to address the larger picture of his hatred of women. Let us focus on the women and keep their memories alive by our action to end violence against women and girls.

“Names of the 14 Women Murdered at Ecole Polytechnique

 Anne-Marie Edward, 21, was a first year student in chemical engineering.
She loved outdoor sports like skiing, diving and riding and was always
surrounded with friends.

 Anne-Marie Lemay, 27, was a fourth year student in mechanical engineering.

 Annie St-Arneault, 23, was a mechanical engineering student from La Tuque,
Que., a Laurentian pulp and paper town in the upper St-Maurice river valley.
She lived in a small apartment in Montreal. Her friends considered her a fine
student. She was killed as she sat listening to a presentation in her last class
before graduation. She had a job interview with Alcan Aluminium scheduled
for the following day. She had talked about eventually getting married to the
man who had been her boyfriend since she was a teenager.

 Annie Turcotte, 21, was in her first year student in engineering materials.
She lived with her brother in a small apartment near the university. She was
described as gentle and athletic – she was a diver and a swimmer. She went
into engineering so she could one day help improve the environment.

 Barbara Daigneault, 22, was to graduate at the end of the year. She was a
teaching assistant for her father Pierre Daigneault, a mechanical engineering
professor with the city’s other French-language engineering school at the
University of Quebec at Montreal.

 Barbara Maria Klueznick, 31, was a first-year nursing student. She arrived in
Montreal from Poland with her husband in 1987.

 Geneviève Bergeron, 21, was a second year scholarship student in civil
engineering who could easily have become a musician instead of an
engineer. Her friends and family described her as a happy person. On the
last day of her life, Genevieve had gone to the school to work on a project
with her friends. She played the clarinet and sang in a professional choir. In
her spare time she played basketball and swam.

 Hélène Colgan, 23, was in her final year of mechanical engineering and
planned to take her Master’s degree. She had three job offers and was
leaning towards accepting one from a company based near Toronto.

 Maud Haviernick, 29, was a second year student in engineering materials, a
branch of metallurgy, and a graduate in environmental design from the
University of Quebec at Montreal.

 Maryse Laganière, 25, was the only non-student killed. She worked in the
budget department of the Ecole Polytechnique. She had recently married.

 Maryse Leclair, 23, in fourth-year metallurgy, had a year to go before
graduation and was one of the top students in the school. She acted in plays
in junior college. She was the first victim whose name was known and she
was found by her father, Montreal police Lieut. Pierre Leclair.

 Nathalie Croteau, 23, was in her final year of mechanical engineering and
planned to take a two-week vacation in Cancun, Mexico, with Hélène Colgan
at the end of the month.

 Sonia Pelletier, 28, was the head of her class and the pride of St-Ulric, Que.,
her remote birthplace in the Gaspe peninsula. She had five sisters and two
brothers. She was to graduate the next day in mechanical engineering and
had a job interview lined up for the following week. She was awarded a
degree posthumously.

 Michele Richard, 21, of Montreal, was in second-year engineering materials.
She was presenting a paper with Haviernick when she was killed.”

Violence against one woman is violence against all women.