Campus event honours women killed in Montreal massacre

Mary Wells was just beginning her career when she heard the news that 14 young women had been gunned down at Montreal’s École Polytechnique.

It was December 6, 1989 and while all Canadians were horrified to learn that a gunman walked into the engineering school and specifically targeted women, for Wells, the tragedy struck very close to home. In addition to being almost the same age as the victims, Wells, now Waterloo Engineering’s associate dean of outreach, had grown up in Montreal and had studied, like most of the victims, mechanical and materials engineering in the city.

“It forever changed me and made me more of an advocate for women in engineering,” says Wells, who leads several outreach programs designed to encourage girls to study engineering.

“I think it’s very important to remember this day because it was such a profound event in engineering,” says Wells. “Young students today weren’t even alive when it happened.”

Campus event will commemorate victims

Students, faculty and staff are invited to attend an event on campus on December 6 to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. White ribbons are worn that day to mark the anniversary of the Montreal massacre and to show support for eradicating all violence against women.

The event is being held at the Student Design Centre in the Engineering 5 building. It will begin at 11:30 am and feature talks by Wells and Diana Parry, special advisor to the President on Women’s and Gender Issues and associate professor in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. The event is also being sponsored by Waterloo’s Department of Women's Studies and the Women's Centre at the Federation of Students.

Wells leads several outreach programs to encourage girls to consider engineering. The Faculty of Engineering runs an annual event called Go ENG Girl for students in Grade 7 – 10.  Another special event is Catalyst, a conference for Grade 11 girls which puts students in touch with young women who are working in engineering. The University also reaches out to girls as young as Grade 4 through Girls Club, a program that connects girls to women working in science and engineering.

“Engineering is a great foundational degree. It gives you the tools to make changes in the world,” says Wells. “It’s a people profession. It’s about helping other people.”