a"MUSE"ments: The Day Canada Changed Forever Twice

Hero - Family of the Year

Today marks a day in Canadian History that should never be forgotten for 2 reasons. One happened in my lifetime and one is nearly forgotten outside of the province where it occurred.

In 1989, 25 year old Marc Lepine entered the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and deliberately and with an agenda in his warped mind shot 28 people in the classrooms and the halls of the school of engineering. He was methodical in his hunt and clear on his prey. In the first classroom he entered he separated the males and females to opposite sides of the room and then ordered the 50 men out. Of the 9 women left, 6 were mowed down and 3 left injured.

I am somewhat sympathetic for the family having to live with the shameful legacy left by the troubled young man who had no intentions of accepting responsibility for the carnage he caused since he carried with him a suicide note and saved one bullet for himself. I continue to be annoyed that as a society we (me included) usually have no trouble remembering the names of the "monsters" that disrupt and forever change our perceptions of the world around us, but the names of the victims are not recalled so readily. In some cases this is because it is much easier for our mortal brains to recall one name rather than several. 14 in this case, 6-49 for Robert Pickton, 26 in Sandy Hook. I remember the victims here in print.

Genevieve Bergeron
Helene Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Maryse Laganiere
Maryse Leclair
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Michele Richard
Annie St-Arneault
Annie Turcotte
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz

December 6th has become the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women and is supported by a white ribbon campaign. Wearing a white ribbon on this day we are honouring not only the memory of the students at the Ecole Polytechnique but all women who have suffered violence at the hands of another.

*PS. This evening on speaking of the Montreal Massacre a prominent Toronto newscaster said that Marc Lepine "kindly took his own life" after the rampage. I don't know if I can express how deeply infuriated I am by this callous remark. I don't care who you think you are that is a cruel judgement to pass on a fellow human being. Without a doubt, what Lepine did was heinous and inexcusable. But I don't think that is a reason to celebrate his death. The man was sick - maybe treatable, maybe not - but he wasn't in his right mind. I hope that this newscaster can find some compassion in his stone cold heart if someone in his circle of family or friends is afflicted with mental illness. :(

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She's Called Nova Scotia - Rita MacNeil

Coming up the hill to Fort Needham Memorial Bell Tower.
Looking through the gap in the structure you can see the
exact spot where the explosion took place.

December 6th is also a day that deserves remembrance for another reason. I am deeply bothered by the fact that very few Canadians are even aware of this catastrophic event that occurred in 1917. Today I had the privilege of being able to attend a memorial at the Memorial Bell Tower at Fort Needham Park in the north end of Halifax. Among the dignitaries, school children and members of the general public was one survivor. She didn't speak, she sat bundled up in her wheelchair in the crowd not drawing any attention, but when she was acknowledge by the MC at the end of the ceremonies, she was the only one who garnered appreciative applause from the crowds that had gathered.

I got to speaking to a woman before the memorial began and she told me about growing up in Halifax and making it a point as an adult to attend the annual service. Last year was exceptionally cold and windy and when she felt the bitter bite of winter, she also felt more compassion for the 6000 people who suddenly found themselves not only homeless but often alone in the world. She felt lucky to have the option to go home afterwards to warmth and love in her home.

She lives in the rebuilt north part of the city and she told me of her neighbour who she watched painstakingly building a wooden picket fence. She watched as he ran his fingers up and down each picket gauging it's position on the cross braces. Each picket was straight and true and hammered in by him alone, despite he was blind. It was after his death that she learned he was a victim of the Halifax explosion and lost his sight when he ran to the window in his home to see what all the excitement was. He never talked about the moment that the glass exploded in his face and his world went dark forever.

The epicentre of the explosion and the range of the most severe destruction.

Halifax was a thriving community of some 50,000 people doing their part for the war effort. One of the largest natural and deepest ports in the world that remains ice-free in the winter, Halifax was a hub for troops and supplies preparing to set off for battle overseas. Many people flocked to the pier to see the excitement when the Belgium relief vessel Imo and French munitions ship Mont Blanc collided. A small fire had started on the deck of the Mont Blanc that began drifting out of control toward Pier 6 on the Halifax shore. 20 minutes later at 9:04 an explosion annihilated everything in an 800 metre (2600 foot) radius. An ensuing tsunami swept survivors on both the Halifax and Dartmouth streets into the frigid harbour where they drowned.

There is no explaining why 88 women in a factory were killed leaving two to emerge after 8 stories of concrete floors and heavy equipment fell on top of them. There is no reason why one child survives in a home that claims his parents and 9 siblings. The second largest man-made explosion left very few families in the northern part of Halifax unscathed. Nobody in the city wasn't affected somehow. Called into service to help or volunteered their time and whatever they could spare.

9,000 bodies etched in the sand at Normandy

The statistics are harsh. 2,000 are killed. 9,000 are injured. 1,600 buildings are destroyed completely. 12,000 homes are damaged. 6,000 people are homeless, another 25,000 are left with inadequate housing. I want to put this in another way that may help people recognize just how devastating this was for the civilian population. Recently I wrote about my thoughts on the futility of war and the remembrance of the sacrifice (I have added a link to that post below). This picture is an artistic interpretation depicting the bodies of 9000 soldiers who died in service to their country on the beaches of Normandy, France. That is the number of injured in the city of Halifax 9,000. Plus 2,000 dead. Not to diminish the importance of a life but in some ways a soldier knows what they are expected to do and the potential dreadful outcome. On December 6th in Halifax it was a clear and crisp day with ordinary people carrying on with their lives. They were people like me and you. More people were killed in Halifax on that cold December day than died in the horrific factory collapse in Bangladesh, or because of Hurricane Katrina. Again I am not trying to diminish any loss of human life but just trying to put it in perspective.

It will never cease to amaze and upset me that the rest of Canada is almost oblivious to this horrific tragedy and important part of this nations history. I went through the school system in Ontario and while I will agree that history although a compulsory subject was not my strong suit, I have zero recollection of ever hearing about this event. I paid more attention to the history lessons my children were subjected to (also in Ontario) and nothing. And I spent some time assisting in the field of education and specifically in history classes as recently as 2009 and nothing was ever said. That is both sad and pathetic. I will continue to do my part to teach and make people aware. I hope you will share also.