Warning: This story contains graphic details of violence and mentions of suicide.
On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 women, including engineering students, a nursing student and a staff member, were killed in a shooting rampage at Montreal’s École Polytechnique by a gunman who shouted: “I hate feminists.”
Marc Lépine had applied to the school but didn’t have the credits needed to be accepted. His friend later told CBC he felt “rejected” by women.
It was Canada’s deadliest mass killing at the time.
Two days later, Francine Pelletier was dealt another shock. She was a columnist for La Presse, and eventually became a co-host at CBC’s The Fifth Estate, where she produced a documentary on the tragedy 10 years later.
Early that morning in December 1989, Pelletier’s editor at La Presse called to tell her that her name was on a hit list found inside Lépine’s pocket, along with a handwritten suicide note, and it had been leaked to the newspaper.
“So that’s that’s how I learned that my name and those of many other women had been published in the newspaper without us knowing beforehand,” Pelletier said.
The list included 19 women Lépine claimed were “radical feminists” who he would have killed if it weren’t for a “lack of time.” Some were well-known, including a Quebec cabinet minister and a union leader.
But it wasn’t just the hit list itself that angered Pelletier.
“That was sort of his last act of bravado,” she said. “There is really no conceivable way that he could have done the plan that he had thought out so carefully — the École Polytechnique killings — and at the same time go around the city and shoot various women.”
Instead, her anger was provoked by why their names were leaked when Montreal police had refused to release the gunman’s suicide note.
“The most important piece of information that we needed to try and make sense of this was … put to the side.”
At the time, there was public debate on what motivated the shooter. Some thought it was an isolated incident, while others believed it was a reaction to the progress women had made in society.
Pelletier believed it was a political crime and the note would bring answers the public deserved.
“I decided then and there that I didn’t know how, but I would get the suicide note.”
Francine Pelletier explains why Marc Lépine’s motive came as a shock to her and women of her generation.
It took months. She asked police directly, but she said they refused to release it, citing fear of possible copycat crimes.
She tried requesting through access to information laws and was refused again.
Finally, approaching the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, Pelletier got an envelope from an anonymous source in the mail. Inside was a photocopy of the note.
She never learned who sent it, despite efforts to find out.
In it, Lépine blamed feminists for ruining his life and claimed women wanted the privileges of men.
“It was him giving us his reasons for killing,” said Pelletier.
“He was aiming at feminists in the sense that he was aiming at the progress that had happened in society through women.”
The next day, she took it to her newspaper and had it published. Before doing so, she says she spoke to Monique Simard, the union leader whose name was also on the list. She agreed it should be made public.
If her name was on the gunman’s hit list, she told police it was her right to know why the Polytechnique gunman targeted women.
“I think that is very significant that it was women’s liberation that he was after. And that’s what we’re seeing now as well.”
Pelletier points out that 35 years later, gender-based inequality and violence is something that hasn’t gone away.
“Violence against women is generally a reaction to women’s position in society today and controlling the last parts that can be controlled,” she said.
“I think so many more stories have to be done because women are still paying for women’s liberation.”
On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 women were shot dead at a university in Montreal. The gunman Marc Lépine’s hate crime left behind a profound and painful human tragedy. Lépine also left a list he’d prepared of other women whom he had also planned to kill. CBC reporter Francine Pelletier’s name was on that list. The real mystery of the crime, however, was about what in Lépine’s life had led him to pick up a gun and attack complete strangers. In this piece from 1999, The Fifth Estate explores Lépine’s past and discovers many factors that may have led him to act as he did.
Dec. 6 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, marking the anniversary of the École Polytechnique tragedy. Vigils and commemoration events will be held across the country to honour each of the victims:
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Geneviève Bergeron, civil engineering student.
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Hélène Colgan, mechanical engineering student.
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Nathalie Croteau, mechanical engineering student.
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Barbara Daigneault, mechanical engineering student.
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Anne-Marie Edward, chemical engineering student.
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Maud Haviernick, materials engineering student.
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Maryse Laganière, budget clerk.
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Maryse Leclair, materials engineering student.
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Anne-Marie Lemay, mechanical engineering student.
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Sonia Pelletier, mechanical engineering student.
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Michèle Richard, materials engineering student.
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Annie St-Arneault, mechanical engineering student.
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Annie Turcotte, materials engineering student.
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Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, nursing student.
The Fifth Estate is marking its 50th year of investigative journalism.
We debuted in 1975 with a goal of holding power accountable. That remains a core tenet of our fearless and provocative journalism. As Canada’s flagship investigative documentary program turns 50, we go into the vaults and behind the scenes.
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