Art, Activism, and Equality: The Monument of Massacre

Monument Experience

When looking at a single small commemorative stone it may appear like the victim's murder was unimportant. However, when looking at the entirety of the monument you can really see the magnitude of this tragedy. By looking from an aerial view you can see the value of the lives that were taken from these women with the amount of space the names take. Each letter of each victim's first name is constructed into the stainless stone and the rest of the name carries out onto the floor. When looking down the path it could represent an army that is feminism. Fighting for the rights of women and seeking equality. The monument is surrounded by large tall trees that almost act as protection. This touch of nature adds a sense of peace and tranquility to the area. With that being said the monument feels as tho it is integrated within the busy area of Cote des Neiges. Where people can be reminded of the tragedy that struck so many during their busy daily lives. Moreover, the monument was designed by Rose-Marie Goulet a renowned artist known for her public art in Quebec. She graduates at Concordia University and her work encapsulates beauty and peace of mind. The monument was completed in 1999 commemorating the fourteen women that were killed. Such a monument was constructed to recognize the importance of gender equality and protection against violence towards women.

Nevertheless, when arriving at the monument, we observed particular elements that were chosen to create a powerful statement on behalf of the women that were lost. The material chosen for these commemorative stones was a combination of stainless steel which can represent the tenacity of women and stone which can represent the strong spirit of feminism. Also, the trees surrounding these small stainless steel stone may represent the security and protection of women. Something that was lost and taken during the time of the massacre. In addition, the way in which the stones are aligned also represents a sense of unity among women. An attribute which is crucial in order to promote the human rights of women. In other words, it represent a symbolic stance for change.

Monument Analysis (Our Interpretation)

We were both struck by the monument at first glance. Arriving at the location, we were not quite sure how to engage with the space. However, our curiosity led us to discover that each steal encased stone commemorated a victim of the shooting and that each stone had a letter constructed within it that read out each of the victims names. We both recognized the importance of the trees in how they brought life and protection to the space. This feature helped evoke the human right of security and protection against violence from the outside world. Although the space gave us a sense of peace, there was also a sense of emptiness as though something was missing. Perhaps the implementation of human rights for women? We enjoyed the fact that you could walk through the space, and observe each steal encased stone as well as the names of each victim. Francine noticed the placement of each steel stone. Such a placement had a strong impact on the space. In a way, it represented unity among women as mentioned in part one. Olivia noted the material which was used for the monument was stainless steel. This is an element commonly used by engineers, evoking the human right of education. These women were studying engineering and were targeted due to their choice of field of study. Due to the fact that the shooter felt they were dominating a male field and were promoting equality.

Some of the world’s most recognized monuments were created in the wake of some of the biggest tragedies involving human rights issues and violations. For instance, “Nef pour quatorze reines” a commemoration of the École Polytechnique Massacre, where fourteen female engineering students were murdered by a gunman called Marc Lepine claiming to be “fighting feminism” in 1989. The gunman blamed these women for his failure to be admitted to the school (Peter Eglin, Stephen Hester,. The incident led to an increased awareness of many female human rights issues that needed to be addressed across Canada. The incident also triggered a movement for change in stricter gun laws (Smith). With that being said, this monument evokes three main human rights issues, such as the right to security and protection (Article 3), gender equality (Article 1 / Article 2), and finally the right to education (Article 26) (UDHR).

Security

Moreover, violence specifically directed toward women is a form of gender-based discrimination. The targeting of the female sex is a manifestation of historical beliefs and systemic inequality between men and women. This disparity between men and women is and has been one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world. Discrimination includes all acts, intentions or severe threats whether emotional or physical that may involve harming or causing the suffering of the female gender. Any form of violence whether physical, psychological, or sexual is inherently unethical and tramples on the person's freedom, safety and their ability to participate and integrate in society. Even though it may seem unimportant, this threat to women could be made by partners, co-workers, friends, family, etc. It is a problem that cannot be left behind, it is a problem that must be addressed in the workplace, our institution, and our communities. Many of these problems of violence involve discrimination related to multiple factors including ethnic background, religion, personal attributes and more. When women are affected by this problem, it means essentially half of the population is affected and by transition, it is detrimental to our society and to the progression of equality. Violence against women affects all of us.

Nevertheless, after analyzing the motives and outcomes of the massacre. There is prominent human rights issues that are evoked. More specifically three clear human rights that were violated against women those of which are; security/ protection, gender equality, and the right to education. This event also brought up gun control, the need to place better by-laws on guns (Smith, 1992). However, that is another problem on its own that must be also dealt with. (Armed conflict against innocent women who were simply trying to attain an education). Human rights are something you are entitled to as a human being. Human rights are rights that everyone is entitled to, no matter gender, race, color, religion, political opinion, or other, etc. (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). The issue of security for women is a serious issue in Canada, which can be observed in recent statistics, in 2017, 84 percent of homicide victims that were killed by their present or previous partner, were women, and eight months into 2018, 106 women/girls were killed by main men (Women’s Shelter Canada, 2019). The right to security has a deep connection to the event this monument represents because these feminist women’s rights to security were violated that tragic day. They have the right to be secure at all times no matter their gender, choices of education, etc. This event happened in the year 1989, in a University of engineering that was male-dominated at the time. These women were going against the norms by studying in a male-dominated profession. Des Gasper and Oscar A. Gomez (2015) wrote in Contemporary Politics an article, where part of it refers to gender violence and human security. It states that women in the past have had to confront norms of gender role, feminine domesticity, and dependency (Gasper and Gomez, 2015). They should be able to choose their own education and self-determinate their lives without fear of any backlash from employers, police, welfare bureaucrats or controlling men, such as their husbands, partners or strangers that oppose their feminist beliefs, such as Marc Lepine (Gasper and Gomez, 2015). The notion of the human rights issue of security is connected to these fourteen murdered women because they did not have the security they were entitled to. They shouldn’t of had to fear violent backlash from an anti-feminist male stranger that did not approve of their self-determined decisions of education in the male-dominated profession of engineering.

Education

Furthermore, the second human rights issue that this monuments event evokes is the right to Education (Article 26). Around the world 57 million children have never even seen or been in a classroom (Pearson, n.d). Education is a human right according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and should be allowed to all regardless of the type of education, gender, race, political beliefs, etc. (UDHR) Syeda Shahida Batool and Syeda Azra Batool (2018) wrote an article together in the Journal of Research & Reflections in Education, which researched and concluded that age, education and legal awareness are major factors in the empowerment of women. This conclusion can be tied back to the idea that women should be able to self-determine their future (empowering) without having to fear backlash from others (Gasper and Gomez, 2015). Women should be able to educate themselves as a means of empowerment and self-determination if they please while not fearing for their security. The human rights issue of Education is closely tied to the event this monument represents because these women were murdered for being women that chose to educate themselves in a profession that was considered male-dominated. We know this because the shooter screamed “I hate feminists!” as well as “You’re women. You’re going to be engineers. You’re all a bunch of feminists” as he shot and murdered the fourteen women (CBC,1999). This type of violence against women for wanting to educate themselves and self-determine their future by their own rules shows that the human rights issue of education is at the core of this event and monumental meaning, as well as security.

Equality

Moreover, Equality is the third human rights issue that connects to this monument’s event. Gender equality is a serious issue that needs to be addressed bureaucratically in all institutions. Petra Ahrens wrote an article in 2016 in Parliamentary Affairs that explained how the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality are an essential participant in gender equality. She goes on to explain that many think they do not have much power or impact, but Ahrens believes there are many reasons why this committee helps institutional persistence, thematic inclusion, organizational attention, and networked integration. This shows that maintaining and creating equality is possible and needed to protect women’s rights. The issue of equality ties back to the monument’s tragic event because these women wanted to equally be able to attend an engineering university without discrimination just like all the other men that Lepine, the shooter, let live. Equality refers to the fact that we are all equally entitled to our human rights and dignity (UDHR). Therefore, these women have the same rights as their fellow male peers, but anti-feminist Lepine had a misogynistic contrary view on the subject. It’s clear that the issue of equality is highly connected to the massacre that the “Nef pour quatorze reines” monument represents.

Feminist Critique & Actuality

In human rights, there is the feminist critique that is used and applied to this type of human rights issue. The feminist critique focuses on the enjoyment of our human rights instead of seeing the rights as legal entitlements (Goodhart, 2016). It believes that having our rights legislatively isn’t enough if there are exterior threats that block people from enjoying their rights (Goodhart, 2016). There are many threats such as cultural, social, economic or others that can inhibit the enjoyment of our rights (Goodheart, 2016). The feminist critique believes that androcentrism comes into play when it comes to the enjoyment of rights because women and men have particular relationships with the government and in society, which stems from the fact that our whole dynamic has a male-dominated view (Goodhart, 2016). Intersectionality is another aspect that the feminist critique thinks is important because it refers to how all human rights are indivisible and interdependent on one another (Goodhart, 2016). This relates back to the fact that this monument's event ties together the human rights issues of security, education, and equality. They are interdependent from one another because the right to equality (Article 1) gives women and everyone the same rights to education and security, for example, but they all need to be in place and respected for there not to be any contradictions within the rights.

Violence against girls and women is prominent, takes many forms, and affects everyone. Under international law, every country has an obligation to address the issue of mistreatment against gender inequality. The United Nations has called on all countries to have a National Action Plan by 2015. Surprisingly, Canada which is seen as a country that promotes the value of human rights has not had a comprehensive national plan or strategy to deal with violence against women over the past few decades. However, Canada is aware that they need to step forward and act on a “National Action Plan” in order to implement human rights for violence against women and is said to join the UN in the following years. In order, to help protect women from any form of violence whether it be in the workforce and or marital violence (Canadian Network of Women’s Shelters & Transitional Houses, 2015). In addition, in our present-day many have pressured the government of Canada to do something about the issues of violence against women, which are reflected by events such as the massacre of these fourteen women. As a response to this pressure, the government of Canada has finally decided, after much pressure from 2017 to 2018, to implement the UN Security Council Resolution on Women, Peace, and Security (Global Affairs Canada, 2018). This shows that voices are being heard and with pressure and consistency, we may implement enough bureaucracy to fight back and assure women’s right to security, education and equality. It’s an everyday battle of pressure and consistency for real rights.

To summarize, the massacre was a turning point for Canadians and their awareness of attitudes toward women and violence. Violence against women is still a prominent issue that continues in Canada. While significant efforts and strategic plans have been taken there is still a need for change. Much work remains to be done to prevent and respond to the violence that persists in both the public and private spheres of women’s lives. There has been progressing and momentum toward gender equality over the past few years, but women have not achieved equality in Canada. As time progresses, we hope to see Canada grow within this goal. Helping women across Canada gain the respect and protection they deserve in all forms.