What is it?

Let us get the facts - it was an event in Montreal, it had something to do with a man named Marc Lepine, and it involved antifeminism. Still dont know what it is? Keep reading, and soon you will find out why the Montreal Massacre is so important to men and women all over the world Marc Lepine On October 26, 1964, a new killer was born. He had a mother who was a nurse, and a business man for a father. Gamil Rodrigues (Marcs birth name) father was in the Caribbean the day Gamil was born. While his was gone, his wife Monique Lepine found that he had an affair while overseas. Monique also gave birth to Gamils sister Nadia in 1967. Gamils father was abusive towards Gamils mother and Nadia, mostly towards Gamil himself. When Gamil got a serious injury on his face from a slap that his father gave him, Monique had enough. She filed for a legal divorce in 1971, followed by their separation in 1976. Gamils father visited, but later he stopped and Marc never saw him again. At age 14, he legally changed his name to Marc Lepine because he hated his father. Later on in September 1981, age of 17 he applied to join the Canadian Forces, but failed during the interview. When 18, Marc and his family moved to Saint-Laurent. Gamil went to a two-year pre-university. While going to school, he had a part-time job to help support his mother in paying bills. In school, he was doing very well in courses linked to electro technology, but in 1985, his grades unexpectedly dropped and later he stopped his studies, which prevented him to get his diploma. He finally decided to move out of his mothers home and started to study engineering at Ecole Polytechnique. Marc wanted a girlfriend badly and often talked to girls about how they shouldn`t get jobs and stay at home and work as a housewife.

The Massacre Seven months of suspicions activities were all leading up to the attack of Ecole Polytechnique. 25 year-old Marc Lepine was an anti-feminist. He hated women who tried to get jobs, which he thought were for men. Being as he was, he decided to do something about how he felt. December 6th, 1989 Marc finally showed how he felt. He was very familiar with the school since he was spotted visiting the school several times before the attack. During the seven months of secret behaviour, Marc had legally bought a Ruger Mini-14 semiautomatic rifle and a hunting knife. Adding to the strange visits, Marc Lepine got his mother an early birthday present for no reason. This was all preparation for Marcs big plan. Marching in a class at around 5:10 pm, Marc Lepine interrupted a presentation. He asked for everyone to separate according by gender - women on one side and men on the other side of the class. Thinking this was a joke, the students and teacher stood still, until a bullet was fired into the ceiling. Sending the men out to wait outside of the school, Marc asked one simple question to all the women in the class, Why are you here. One of the victims of the massacre, Nathalie Provost, spoke. Look, we are just women studying engineering, not necessarily feminists ready to march on the streets to shout we are against men, just students intent on leading a normal life. Marc replied, Youre women, youre going to be engineers. Youre a bunch of feminists. I hate feminists. The sound of gunfire went throughout the school. Dead, and injured bodies in the classroom, waiting for help. The one attack wasnt enough for Marc, so he went around the school killing many other innocent women. Twenty minutes into the attack, Marc unexpectedly stopped everything, wrapped his coat around his rifle, and shot himself. The last words out of his mouth being Oh s*hit.

Suicide Letter After unforgettable event, the police uncovered 3 letters. Two of them to friends that only led to computer software and games, and the other one was a suicide letter. It was not publicly available until a journalist, Francine Pelletier, got access to the information. Francine is the founder of a feminist newspaper, La Vie en Rose and a feminist. The letter was about why he did what he did, and a list of feminists he wanted to murder, including Francine herself. The letter also included him blaming feminists for ruining his life. The letterForgive the mistakes; I had 15 minutes to write this. Would you note that if I commit suicide today 89-12-06 it is not for economic reasons (for I have waited until I exhausted all my financial means, even refusing jobs) but for political reasons. Because I have decided to send the feminists, who have always ruined my life, to their Maker. For seven years life has brought me no joy and being totally blas, I have decided to put an end to those viragos. I tried in my youth to enter the Forces as an officer, which would have allowed me possibly to get into the arsenal and precede Lortie in a raid. They refused me because antisocial. I therefore had to wait until this day to execute my plans. In between, I continued my studies in a haphazard way for they never really interested me, knowing in advance my fate. Which did not prevent me from obtaining very good marks despite my theory of not handing in work and the lack of studying before exams. Even if the Mad Killer epithet will be attributed to me by the media, I consider myself a rational erudite that only the arrival of the Grim Reaper has forced to take extreme acts. For why persevere to exist if it is only to please the government. Being rather backward-looking by nature (except for science), the feminists have always enraged me. They want to keep the advantages of women (e.g. cheaper insurance, extended maternity leave preceded by a preventative leave, etc.) while seizing for themselves those of men. Thus it is an obvious truth that if the Olympic Games removed the Men-Women distinction, there would be Women only in the graceful events. So the feminists are not fighting to remove that barrier. They are so opportunistic they neglect to profit from the knowledge accumulated by men through the ages. They always try to misrepresent them every time they can. Thus, the other day, I heard they were honouring the Canadian men and women who fought at the frontline during the world wars. How can you explain women were not authorized to go to the frontline? Will we hear of Caesar's female legions and female galley slaves who of course took up 50% of the ranks of history, though they never existed. A real Casus Belli. Sorry for this too brief letter. Marc Lpine

Aftermath Everybody who had been there on the day of the attack was affected. There were many reports of students committing suicide because of the incident. The police waited before entering. This gave Marc time to kill 7 more students, which is half of the women killed. The police couldve saved half of the students. Because of this, police`s emergency response was changed. Marcs actions led to the Firearms Act, in 1995. This meant people who wanted guns needed training of, a background check on the person, and rules on how to store the gun and ammunition and registration. Supporting Women Many feminists were shocked about Marc`s actions, and decided to take action. Lots of people - male and female have formed organizations to support women who were exposed to abuse because they were women. The Montreal massacre led to the Women`s Action Coalition of Nova Scotia. They launched a Purple Ribbon Campaign to honour those women who were murdered on December 6th. The Action Coalition got donations to help women who have been the victim of violence and encourage people to wear a purple ribbon on December 6th. Similar to this, The Violence Prevention Initiative organized Newfoundland and Labradors first Purple Ribbon Campaign to help women who have experienced violence. The white ribbon campaign is known worldwide because of its large effort in putting an end violence against women. In 1991, men in Canada decided to urge men to speak out about violence against women, and today Men and women all over the world lead campaigns to support their cause. Their main goal is to end women violence In today`s world, many women feminists have organized groups to break free from sexism. There is the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA). FAFIA is an organization developed to help women. They provide many things like bringing women together to share recommendations for better policy and programming on issues related to womens equality.

What Couldve Happened Where did Marc Lepine actually get the weapons he used? Do they hand them out to everyone, not knowing what they will do? Lpine purchased a Ruger Mini-14 semiautomatic rifle at a local sporting goods store it was a legal purchase made to help Marc kill innocent people. After the terrible massacre, students from the school petitioned to get stricter gun laws, which would have saved their classmates lives. The new law that was made would have Marc prove he was mentally sable, over 16 yearsold, and had no criminal record. If this law was already in place, all the women and men who died would be alive. Its not a lie that there are more people like Marc out there; however, many people support women and are rising up in the world. Just like Marc Lepine, in 2008, 146 females were murdered because they were women, and 45 of the women were victims of a spousal homicide. Why do people do these things to women and girls? Some men around the world show what they feel over the web with funny pictures, but what do those pictures actually mean? There are many meanings for them, maybe men want women to respect them like they are their boss, or maybe like Marc, they believe that women are taking over jobs that are supposedly meant for men. How did Marc enter the building with the weapons he had? Better security couldve stopped, and arrested Marc, so why didnt the school have a method to see what objects people have with them before entering. Was there an alarm to tell everyone that someone dangerous was in the building, and if there was, would the alarm ready for a speedy evacuation in the case of an armed assault or attack? Would the Universit de Montral security service be ready? I think before opening the schools, all the security service members should be tested whether they are ready for something like Marc Lepine and his plans. In todays world, they have weapon detectors everywhere. Some detectors are in stores, airports, and in actual universities and colleges. This is what we need to protect us and others around the world from danger.

Victims The murdered women were: Genevive Bergeron, aged 21; Hlne Colgan, 23; Nathalie Croteau, 23; Barbara Daigneault, 22; Anne-Marie Edward, 21; Maud Haviernick, 29; Barbara Maria Klucznik, 31; Maryse Leclair, 23; Annie St.-Arneault, 23; Michle Richard, 21; Maryse Laganire, 25; Anne-Marie Lemay, 22; Sonia Pelletier, 28; and Annie Turcotte, aged 21. All of these women had families, friends and a future full of possibilities. As previously mentioned, on December 6th, an organization in Nova Scotia encourages people to wear a purple ribbon to remember all those women who have been murdered by Marc Lepine. I encourage our school, East Williams to be part of this day, and wear a purple ribbon to remember all the women who have died in the Montreal Massacre. Not just to say that we remember all those innocent lives, but we are against antifeminism

Overall, there are valuable lessons to be learned some more heart wrenching, others made to question authorities. The importance of making sense of our surroundings could change everything. If suspicion was catered towards Lepine, perhaps authorities could have stopped the massacre from taking place. Respect everyone as an equal it will make us one step closer to a well needed utopia.