At 5:10 p.m. today, at the exact time the first shots were fired 35 years ago, 14 beams of light will illuminate the sky above Mount Royal, lit one at a time as the names of the 14 victims are read out. For the first time this year, a 15th beam will be added in memory of all victims of femicide.
In this age of disposable grief, we must not forget Ecole Polytechnique
On a deeper level, I felt that this should not be a disposable calamity, that the point was not to get over it. The appropriate reaction, the only possible response to such an overwhelming tragedy, was raw grief. It should wound us to the core, because if it doesn’t, we are less than human. If we don’t feel that sorrow and feel it deeply, we won’t act.