Like many Montrealers, Dominique Bérubé remembers exactly where she was on Dec. 6, 1989, when a gunman targeted women at École Polytechnique, killing 14. But her memories of the day are especially vivid.
She was there.
At a memorial event on McTavish Street Friday, McGill’s Vice-President (Research and Innovation) spoke publicly about that day for the first time.
Bérubé was pursuing her Bachelor’s in Metallurgical Engineering at École Polytechnique. She knew most of the women who were killed. They were colleagues and classmates. They were her friends.
“Maryse [Leclair] was in third year, like me. That day, she had put on a silk shirt. It was supposed to be for Christmas, but she wore it because she had a presentation for her metallurgy class,” said Bérubé.
“Maud Haviernick was my smoking buddy. Back then we could smoke in the hallways of Polytechnique,” Bérubé said with a small smile. “Maud was 29.”
Bérubé said her saddest memory was spending the night with the parents of Michèle Richard on the day of the state funeral at Notre-Dame Basilica for nine of the victims.
“They didn’t want to take part in the funeral because they just couldn’t say goodbye to their daughter,” said Bérubé. “Instead, a group of us went to their house to be with them in solidarity.”
Shared responsibility
Bérubé said honouring the victims of the Polytechnique tragedy “is not enough.”
“We must also ensure that its lessons are not forgotten,” she said.
“The violence and injustice we witnessed that day remain relevant. We still live in a world where barriers persist, where inequalities endure and where progress requires constant effort,” said Bérubé.
“To honour the 14 women we remember today I ask this: support one another, stand together and speak out when it matters. These are not extraordinary actions, but they are essential.
“Today we honour their memory. But honouring is not just about remembering; it is about continuing to work for what they were denied. This is our shared responsibility, and it is one we carry together.”
Guilt and ambivalence
For Bérubé, life following the tragedy was “very complex.”
She started a family and a career, but said she always harboured feelings of guilt: “guilt for being alive, guilt for being lucky, for not always thinking enough about our friends or about what happened, or engaging enough with its legacy,” she told the gathering. “These feelings are difficult, but they are a reminder of the importance of reflection and action.”
Bérubé spoke about external pressures. Feminist groups wanted Polytechnique survivors to declare that the field of engineering was misogynistic. Male colleagues wanted them to reassure people this was not the case.
She had a lot of “ambivalence” about calling herself a feminist. “It was a label that carried too much weight, too many expectations,” she said.
Over time, that changed.
“Thanks to the friendship, the support and the work of so many women who never stopped fighting for women’s rights, even when it was hard and unpopular, I can stand here today with pride and strength and declare myself a feminist,” she said.
Paying tribute
Other speakers included Provost Christopher Manfredi; Angela Campbell, Interim Deputy Provost and Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) and Viviane Yargeau, McGill’s first female Dean of the Faculty of Engineering.
Fourteen female McGill Engineering undergraduate students also paid tribute to the women killed. The students are members of Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering (POWE), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting gender diversity in the field and supporting future engineers. POWE was founded in 1990, in response to the killings at Polytechnique.
One by one, the 14 students gave small, but touching details about each of the women before laying a single white rose at the permanent memorial plaque on McTavish Street, which honours the women who were killed that day:
- Geneviève Bergeron
- Hélène Colgan
- Nathalie Croteau
- Barbara Daigneault
- Anne-Marie Edward
- Maud Haviernick
- Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
- Maryse Laganière
- Maryse Leclair
- Anne-Marie Lemay
- Sonia Pelletier
- Michèle Richard
- Annie St-Arneault
- Annie Turcotte
After the last rose was laid, a minute of silence was observed.
