December 6 marks the day that 14 women lost their lives in a shooting at a Montréal school.
The City of Fort Saskatchewan made a Facebook post stating that flags will be at half-mast today at all facilities to honour these victims.
"We put the flags at half-mast for the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women," said Tammy Boof, risk management officer with the city.
This day was established by Parliament in 1991, two years after the attack on École Polytechnique, an engineering school in Montréal.
A lone gunman entered the school and, over the course of 20 minutes, killed 14 women and injured 14 others. Only four of the injured were men. Before police could apprehend the shooter, he took his own life. It was the deadliest mass shooting in Canada until 2020.
Now every year on December 6, the country memorializes the 14 women who lost their lives, many of them being engineering students:
- Geneviève Bergeron
- Hélène Colgan
- Nathalie Croteau
- Barbara Daigneault
- Anne-Marie Edward
- Maud Haviernick
- Maryse Laganière
- Maryse Leclair
- Anne-Marie Lemay
- Sonia Pelletier
- Michèle Richard
- Annie St-Arneault
- Annie Turcotte
- Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
Boof said that there are a few local ways to get involved in ending violence against women.
"Families First is a place that you can go," Boof said.
Families First offers parenting programs and family support, amongst other services.