'Name what things are': Recognizing 'femicide' 35 years after the Montreal massacre
CTV
Ahead of the 35th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, Annie Ross, a mechanical engineering professor at Polytechnique Montreal, said she often thinks of those who lived through the tragedy but still suffer silently.
Ahead of the 35th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre on Friday, Annie Ross, a mechanical engineering professor at Polytechnique Montréal, said she often thinks of those who lived through the tragedy but still suffer silently.
On Dec. 6, 1989, a man motivated by a hatred of feminists shot and killed 14 women and injured 13 other people at the Montreal engineering school affiliated with Université de Montréal.
Ross was in her fourth year in mechanical engineering at Polytechnique and narrowly avoided the gunman. Her friends weren't as lucky.
"That day, I was studying at Polytechnique, preparing for my exams and I was supposed to go in class with them — with that group. They were presenting their final project and it was all exciting," Ross said.
But instead of walking into class, she decided to go home and study. "That was minutes before the tragedy happened (and) by the time I got home, it was over."
Many of her friends were murdered that day, people who were her lifeline to the city, as she had just moved to Montreal from New Brunswick.
"It's stupid, but I did feel that I let them down because I wasn't there for them even though it's not rational at all," she said.
