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BY JOSH KJENNER
University of Alberta
Student Contributor
(Engineering)
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December 6, 1989. It's a date that will be forever remembered
as a dark day in Canadian history. It was on this day that
Marc Lépine entered École Polytechnique de Montreal
and committed one of the most horrific crimes this nation
has ever seen.
After crying “J'haïs les féministes (I hate
feminists),” Lépine murdered 13 female engineering
students, one female secretary, and then turned his weapon
upon himself.
Violence of this nature is always deeply disturbing. This
incident, however, was doubly shocking due to the killer's
motivation. Lépine blamed many of the problems in his
life, including not being accepted into engineering school,
on females. This eventually manifested itself in what is now
called the Montreal Massacre.
The effects of this event were felt in many aspects of Canadian
life, including the feminist and gun control movements. It
particularly reverberated in engineering faculties across
the nation, which were, and continue to be, overwhelmingly
composed of males.
This Dec. 6 of marked the 15th anniversary of that tragic
day. Although the event was incomprehensible in 1989, when
one considers the gains made by Canadian women in the last
decade and a half, it seems even more unfathomable.
Amy Laidlaw, a student in her final year of a mechanical engineering
degree at the University of Alberta, agrees. Having already
completed part of her degree when she first heard of the incident,
she says she “found it really shocking, because I had
never experienced any negative feelings in that respect.”
Although there is no denying that being a woman in engineering
is a different experience than being a male — “we're
different genders, so inevitably people are going to react
differently,” says Amy — it does not necessarily
carry negative connotations anymore. Increasingly, women in
engineering are being treated as they deserve — with
respect equal to that of their male counterparts.
Amy says, “I've never felt like a minority.”
That feeling may well be because of the efforts expended by
various levels of government to increase the presence of women
in science and engineering. Here at the U of A, there are
several directives specifically dedicated to accomplishing
such a task.
Amy points specifically to Women in Scholarship, Engineering,
Science and Technology. The program known as WISEST started
in 1982 at the University of Alberta to increase gender diversity
in technical fields.
The university strives to increase acceptance of women in
technological fields and make sure a massacre like Montreal's
never happens again. But its involvement goes beyond that,
too.
University administration, in concert with the Faculty of
Engineering and the Engineering Students' Society, has installed
a memorial plaque in the Engineering Teaching and Learning
Centre, dedicated to the 14 women who lost their lives. The
plan is to develop a small lounge around the plaque.
Although memorials like this exist throughout Canada, none
can even begin to atone for the events of December 6, 1989.
Increasing the acceptance and equality of women in a field
they rightfully belong in is all that can be done.
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