As we approach December 6th, we at WAVAW are reflecting on the intentions behind this National Day of mourning and action, and if it is still living up to those intentions. The act of violent misogyny on December 6th, 1989 shook our country, and its impact led Parliament to designate this day as The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Now, 32 years later, we wonder which women feel seen, counted, and mourned on this day? 

We remember:

Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte, and Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz.

A lone gunman in 1989 walked into an engineering class in a University in Montreal, separated the women from the men, called them “feminist”, and killed them. As we mourn their loss and remember their lives, we must also reaffirm our commitment to fight the hatred that led to this tragedy, and the misogyny, white supremacy, colonialism, transphobia, homophobia, and all other interlocking systems of oppression that continue to take lives today. 

In reflecting on this day, it’s important that we understand the sociopolitical context of that decade, and what the feminist anti-violence movement looked like in the 80’s.

The 80’s was an active decade for mainstream feminist wins. Many women’s organizations were opening to offer support, raise awareness, and acknowledge that violence against women was rampant. The late 70’s and 80’s is when we started to see formalized rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters open across Canada. Of course, informal networks had already existed and were functioning long before this time. 

1982 saw Maggie Mitchell, the longest running female MP stand up in Parliament during question period to bring forward issues related to domestic violence. She was ridiculed by her peers for talking about violence against women publicly. This was also the decade that much activism was being done around sexual violence. At the time, WAVAW was part of the group of women’s organizations that were working to change the Criminal Code; to repeal the rape laws and replace them with the sexual assault provisions we see in our Criminal Code today.

 In 1989, I was 11 years old. Though the Montreal massacre didn’t enter into my consciousness at the time; December 6th has now become an opportunity for me to reflect on how misogyny impacts women’s lived experiences every day. It also makes me curious to know whether this day resonates for everybody, and how we can ensure this National Day continues to be relevant to our times. 

I had the opportunity to speak with Nic Wayara (she/her), our Transformative Justice Project Lead, about what December 6th means to her and how we can keep this National Day relevant. 

Dalya: How old were you Nic, in 1989?

Nic: I was negative three years old. 

Dalya: Right, you weren’t even born yet. So as someone who, like me, focused on gender studies in university, how old were you when you learned about December 6th. Do you remember when that was? 

Nic: Yeah, I think it was 18, likely in my first year of undergrad in women’s studies 101 or something like that. I had never heard about that day and when I did it felt like an awakening for me, like I started to have language around the systemic, historical context for things like misogyny. It connected the dots. I had my own lived experience with misogyny and education but didn’t necessarily have the systemic view. As a young black girl, going to an independent school where I had to wear a uniform, the way that people would treat me, look at me, talk about my body; I experienced those things, but I had never known about misogyny and extreme forms of violence. When I was learning about it in class, it seemed so far in the past. Like I was in this bubble. 

When I hear the story told about what happened that day at L’Ecole Polytechnique, I do feel profound amounts of sadness for the reality that this was an act of blatant misogyny that resulted in the murder of women. I’m also struck by the fact that there has been tons and tons and tons of violence that has stolen the lives of like black and brown women, girls, and femmes, but that does not result in a day of remembrance. So yeah, when you said how does this day affect you? Or does this day resonate with you? I think when we put days like the 6th into the historical canon we can often create the idea that, that happened then, and not now; but rape culture is alive and well. 

Dalya: Really, we need not look further than the 231 Calls to Justice that came out of the National Inquiry. And they’ve remained recommendations. Nobody’s forcing that to be implemented. We know that Black and brown trans women are being murdered across this country every day. Does this National Day of Remembrance get to be claimed by those most impacted by gender based violence: Indigenous, Black, Brown, Trans women? It feels urgent that we push and create the space, make the space bigger and wider so that more survivors and more people who hold those pieces of grief around communities that are so deeply impacted by femicide and violence, can feel counted and belonged. 

Nic: When you were recounting the sequence of events, how the gunman called the women in the classroom feminists, it also makes me think of how we understand what feminism actually is. I read this tweet the other day from Wagatwe Wanjuki, she wrote less ‘Are you a feminist?’ and more ‘What are your feminist values?’ ‘How do you strive to fulfill them in your everyday life?’. It’s no longer enough to say, “this is what a feminist looks like”. Instead of focusing so much on a title or a label, or what something looks like, let’s show what feminism is by our actions, and define what our feminism is on an individual, organizational, and societal level. I think oftentimes, even the ways that we have conversations as abroader feminist community, we’re still talking about it as if we’re sharing the same understanding of what it encompasses. Many people will say they are feminists and then say transphobic stuff. Many will say they are feminists and won’t be able to deal with their white fragility. It’s just not enough to solely look at the brunt end of patriarchy when, for so many women, girls, and femmes, it’s about so much more: our gender identities, our bodies, the colour of our skin, our sexualities. We have to be asking, “what feminism are we actually practicing?” and we can no longer make assumptions about feminism. There’s no, “this is feminism”. 

I would say, I’m an intersectional feminist. I’m a womanist. Womanism comes from Black women having conversations that affect Black women. So we talk about things like colourism, and features and textures, and then all those pieces that align my lived experience and the way that I navigate the world decidedly different than somebody who might be mixed race and fair skin and have certain phenotypes, all that. So yeah, I just think if we want the legacy of remembering and honouring the lives of women and girls and femme folks, that also means that we have to understand the ways that we are currently not able to see beyond our own experience and not even understand–like Dalya, your experience is going to be really different than mine, the way that you walk through the world and your body is going to be different. You know? 

Dalya: Yes, absolutely. 

Nic: I think maybe we get stuck on patriarchy. The thing that kills us and harms us the most isn’t just patriarchy, there’s way more underneath, there’s more to it, right? It’s patriarchy, but it’s also colonialism, white supremacy; it’s also the sense that, there are certain places where some of us are supposed to be, some of us are not supposed to be; some of us are going to receive the sympathy and the care and the things that we need, or be centered, at least in different ways than others of us. I think that it can be really all too easy to be like, “the thing is patriarchy” when the thing is also like, “it’s patriarchy and, and, and…” If we’re not able to see those other things, then we start to have really myopic conversations.  

Dalya: When we’re living with the legacy of imperialism, that has defined people’s worth as human beings for hundreds of years, exactly, to your point, those who create space to grieve, and to determine who gets honoured and remembered is so directly tied to the ways that society values human life. 

Nic: I wonder what December 6th, in our day and age now, means when we have the ongoing disappearance or disappearing of Indigenous women and girls and Two Spirit folks. And the continued conversations about feminism, as if it’s a one size fits all. I feel like it makes sense that so many folks don’t see themselves within our movements or feel welcome in spaces or able to show up and bring their fullness of who they are; their Indigeneity and their womanhood, or their Indigeneity and their gender identity, or their blackness and their disability, and their identity as a survivor. Because, I don’t know if collectively mainstream anti-violence movements and organizations have done enough to create that shared recognition of the ways that one dimensional analysis causes harm. It’s far too easy to think the problem is only out there, when we are culpable in creating, programming, and doubling down on the ways things have been done. Our sector has to face the reality that there is disproportionate and compounded harms that survivors of colour are experiencing. It’s not theory. It’s not made up. 

***

We leave you with the following questions, inspired by Wagatwe Wanjuki, for your consideration:

How does your feminism show up in the world? How do you enact your feminism?  How is it that you enact your feminism? What does the feminism you believe in do? Can we commit to embodying our feminist values, as oppose to just looking like a feminist? How will we continue to create space for all women, girls, and femmes that have lost their lives to intersecting and interlocking systems that did not afford their life value?

We wish you light, peace, and courage as you grieve for all women, girls, and femmes who have lost their lives to violence. Join us on December 6th for our virtual vigil in honour of The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.

~

Written by Dalya Israel, Executive Director, WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre