December 6th National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

Every year since 1981, Canada promotes awareness of violence against women on November 25.

On December 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women is observed across Canada, informally known as White Ribbon Day.

This is the anniversary of the 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre, in which fourteen women were singled out for their gender and murdered.

Here are more facts about the perpetrator of the L'ecole Polytechnique Massacre worth remembering:

1.Marc Lépine/Gamil Gharbi frequently saw his father beat his mother.

2. Lepine's mother was French-Canadian.

3. When Lepine/Gharbi entered the classroom, he fired two shots of his low powered small calibre rifle into the ceiling. He then ordered all the men in the room to leave, to which they meekly complied. The young women were then left alone in the classroom with Lepine. He shouted "You're all a bunch of fucking feminists!" and started shooting.

Just consider that last point a while: The men all walked away. They abandoned the women. This was an abdication of the most fundamental value of manhood, to protect the women & children. If, instead of walking out the door, the men had rushed Lapine, throwing books & desks at him, and tackled him to the ground, he would have had time to get off maybe one more shot. And we would be remembering many brave heroes instead of 14 dead women.

So mark December 6 on your calendar as a day of remembrance and action against violence against women.

That allows for Human Rights Day, to call for action for all victims of child abuse!

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Update:

Years later, when the Dawson College shooter, Kimveer Gill, started his rampage, nobody stopped him on the street even though it was evident he had a gun on him.

The only difference between then and now is that the police were quicker to secure the building and wounded him, only to have him then commit suicide.

Though, in Kimveer's case, it appears to be too many late nights playing online games while suffering insomnia, combined with social isolation, among other things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimveer_Gill
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References:

Marc Lepine: http://members.tripod.com/peterzohrab/marclepi.html
Who Was Gamil Gharbi: http://hallsofmacadamia.blogspot.com/2006/09/who-was-gamil-gharbi.html
December 6 Memories: http://ginnadowler.blogspot.com/2004/12/december-6-memories.htm