By Dr. Amanda Nelund, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, MacEwan University. Originally published in The Edmonton Journal on December 5, 2025.
Thirty-six years ago on Dec. 6, 14 women were killed as they attended class at L’Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. They were killed because they were women in post-secondary.
The shooter made clear that he killed the 14 students because they were women and, in his eyes, women did not belong on campus. Although the number of women in post-secondary education has only climbed since 1989, university and college campuses continue to be places where women face gender-based violence.
A recent provincewide survey of all types of post-secondary institutions found that 84 per cent of women students had experienced gender-based or sexual violence before attending post-secondary, and that 54 per cent had experienced it since becoming a student.
The numbers were even higher for gender-diverse students at 90 per cent experiencing some form of gender-based or sexual violence before becoming a student, and 66 per cent since. A national survey found that 11 per cent of women post-secondary students in Canada had experienced sexual violence on campus or at a post-secondary related event within the last 12 months.
University should be a place where students are able to focus on their learning and skill-building, but for women and gender-diverse students, it is often a place of violence.
In the case of the massacre at L’Ecole Polytechnique, gender-based violence ended 14 women’s lives. We know that gender-based violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault and relationship violence continues to impact women’s lives and their academic careers in less extreme ways as well.
For the past two years, I have been conducting research involving interviews with student survivors about the violence they have experienced, the needs they have as a result and what justice means to them. One of the clear findings from that research is that sexual violence is impacting survivors’ academic experience.
Participants spoke about their difficulty focusing in class when PTSD triggers arise, their challenges meeting assignment deadlines amid court cases or mental-health struggles and the ways in which the violence often makes them isolate themselves from the broader university community.
This means that students are unable to achieve the level of academic success they may otherwise have accomplished. That is tragic for the individual student, but it is also a disaster for all of us. If we continue to allow our post-secondary spaces to be ones that are unsafe for women, we are losing the potential those women have to contribute to knowledge, innovation and success for Alberta.
Dec. 6 is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada. We remember the 14 women who were killed. We wear white ribbons to join in the White Ribbon Campaign, a global initiative founded in Canada made up of men and boys fighting for action on violence against women.
And we act to end the ongoing violence. If you are a student in post-secondary, a faculty or staff member, or other member of our campus communities, look into what your campus is doing to address this issue. If you are an Albertan with no ties to campus, look into what your community is doing to address this issue.
Put pressure on your elected officials to invest in safety and to prioritize resources that victims and survivors need. If someone you love tells you they have experienced this violence, believe them, tell them it is not their fault and help them find community supports like the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton.
On Dec. 6 we remember:
- Geneviève Bergeron
- Hélène Colgan
- Nathalie Croteau
- Barbara Daigneault
- Anne-Marie Edward
- Maud Haviernick
- Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
- Maryse Laganière
- Maryse Leclair
- Anne-Marie Lemay
- Sonia Pelletier
- Michèle Richard
- Annie St-Arneault
- Annie Turcotte
Dr. Amanda Nelund, associate professor in the Department of Sociology at MacEwan University. Read the original story.