Twenty years after Marc Lepine gunned down 14 women at Ecole Polytechnique, some 300 women will gather to look back at the massacre, and discuss issues still plaguing women two decades later.
Panelists at a UQAM conference on women's issues this weekend will discuss the gains women have made since Dec. 6th, 1989, as well as the road ahead.
Lepine sent shockwaves through Quebec society when he left a suicide note after his violent rampage, saying he targeted feminists because they had ruined his life.
Journalist and filmmaker Francine Pelletier was one of the women Lepine named on his lit list, and is among the panelists in the weekend-long event.
"Lepine was the consequence of a strong feminist movement, it was the return of the pendulum, the backlash no one thought would happen, but it did," said Pelletier.
"I've been waiting for 20 years to remember the 6th of December. We have never sat down in any way to discuss the 6th of December," she said.
The horrific event is still top of mind for many women.
"It still resonates, because there is still so much violence against women, and there still isn't any real gun control," said conference participant Karen Seabrook.
As many as 14,000 Quebecers report domestic abuse to police every year.
And while Quebecers may never make sense of the event that erupted out of Ecole Polytechnique, the weekend conference aims to show there are continued efforts to eliminate violence against women.
"I think we need to understand his act as something that came out of a society that still has work to do," said Alexa Conradi from the Quebec Women's Federation.
It's also a time to remember, said Amelie Roy, from the YWCA Canada.
"It's important to take the time to reflect, learn, and think about those women and commemorate those women," said Roy.
