Dear all,

As some of you may know, December 6 marks 31 years since the murder of 14 young women at École Polytechnique de Montréal. On this day in 1989, a gunman entered an engineering classroom and ordered the women and men to opposite sides of the room. He then asked the men to leave before opening fire against these women and others in the school. At the time it was the deadliest mass shooting event in Canadian history.

December 6 is now marked as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. I encourage you to take time out of your day to commemorate the events in that engineering classroom, and reflect that 31 years after this atrocious event, women in our communities still confront misogyny in their everyday lives. We must share in our commitment to end gender-based violence.

On behalf of FAST’s Leadership Team,

Farzad Rayegani, Ph.D., P. Eng., FEC.
Senior Dean, FAST