August 2026
The Memorial of Hope monument on the campus of the University of Windsor, in Windsor, Ontario, is a permanent memorial to the infamous mass murder of 14 women at École Polytechnique in Montreal in 1989. Known as the “Montreal massacre,” it was the deadliest mass shooting in Canada until the Nova Scotia attacks in April 2020.
On that day, a deeply troubled gunman entered a mechanical engineering class at École Polytechnique. He ordered men out of the room, asked the women remaining if they were feminists and then opened fire on them, killing six women. After leaving the classroom, he killed eight more more women in the school’s hallways, the cafeteria and another classroom, where the rampage ended when he shot himself. Twenty-seven other men and women were wounded.
Built in 2004, the monument is situated outdoors between Dillon Hall and Essex Hal, consisting of 14 concrete pillars with each pillar holding a metal rose to represent each of the 13 students and one staff member who were killed that horrible day.
Every year on 6 December, staff, students and the general public are invited to a candlelight vigil at the monument in honor of the 14 women murdered that day and to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women and to reflect on the victims of gender-based violence.
The women murdered on 6 December 1989:
- Geneviève Bergeron (born 1968; aged 21), civil engineering student
- Hélène Colgan (born 1966; aged 23), mechanical engineering student
- Nathalie Croteau (born 1966; aged 23), mechanical engineering student
- Barbara Daigneault (born 1967; aged 22), mechanical engineering student
- Anne-Marie Edward (born 1968; aged 21), chemical engineering student
- Maud Haviernick (born 1960; aged 29), materials engineering student
- Maryse Laganière (born 1964; aged 25), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique’s finance department
- Maryse Leclair (born 1966; aged 23), materials engineering student
- Anne-Marie Lemay (born 1967; aged 22), mechanical engineering student
- Sonia Pelletier (born 1961; aged 28), mechanical engineering student
- Michèle Richard (born 1968; aged 21), materials engineering student
- Annie St-Arneault (born 1966; aged 23), mechanical engineering student
- Annie Turcotte (born 1969; aged 20), materials engineering student
- Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (born 1958; aged 31), nursing student
Sources: UWindsor marks 35th anniversary of Montreal Polytechnique massacre | Windsor Star, École Polytechnique massacre – Wikipedia, École Polytechnique massacre – Wikipedia.
