Somber ceremonies in Montreal on Sunday marked the anniversary of the anti-feminist rampage that left 14 women dead at a university campus 20 years ago.
In what was the deadliest shooting spree in Canadian history, Marc Lepine, 25, fired a semiautomatic rifle at women in classrooms and the cafeteria of the Ecole Polytechnique at the University of Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989.
His suicide note said he was fighting against feminists who had ruined his life.
The names of Lepine’s victims were read out at a downtown park and a minute of silence was held to remember them 20 years to the day since they were killed. Many in the crowd cheered as speakers highlighted the importance of doing everything possible to eliminate violence against women.
The weekend was marked by several commemorative events, including a conference on violence against women at the University of Quebec in Montreal, the gathering at a downtown park to protest violence and a photo exhibit of feminist artists.
“My parents lost their only daughter. Annie, so pretty, intelligent and filled with curiosity,” said Daniel Turcotte, addressing the hundreds gathered at a private ceremony at Notre Dame Basilica to share their collective grief.
Dozens of floral bouquets were laid at a commemorative plaque on the University of Montreal campus to honor the women.
The Montreal Massacre persuaded the government to stiffen its gun-control laws by launching a national gun registry program in 1991. But last month, the federal government voted by a slim majority to kill it, a move that has fueled an emotional response from survivors and family members of victims.
“It is disturbing,” said Sylvie Haviernick, who lost her sister Maud in the attack, and has since been a vocal supporter of the gun registry. “We really have the feeling we are stepping back, so this means we’ll need to redo, maybe better, what we’ve done 20 years ago.”
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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