Mick Hartley

The École Polytechnique massacre was an anti-feminist mass shooting that occurred on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique de Montréal. Fourteen women were murdered; another ten women and four men were injured.

Perpetrator Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle and hunting knife, entered a mechanical engineering class at the École Polytechnique. He ordered the women to one side of the classroom, and instructed the men to leave. After claiming that he was "fighting feminism", he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. The shooter then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women, for just under 20 minutes. He killed eight more women before ending his own life. In total, 14 women were killed, and 14 others were injured.

What better way of remembering this anti-women killing spree than…..to invite a man who pretends to be a woman to give the keynote speech:

The University of Toronto invited a trans-identified male to speak at a memorial ceremony dedicated to the women who lost their lives during the École Polytechnique massacre. Despite it being the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women in Canada, the speech instead focused on “addressing transmisogyny.”

Hosted by the University’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Center, the event was held today at the St. George Campus in downtown Toronto. While the official announcement claimed the event was intended to memorialize the 14 women slaughtered during the École Polytechnique massacre, the keynote speech was almost completely unrelated to the horrific shooting.

The event was first introduced by two students of the University who began with a speech suggesting that pre-colonial Indigenous cultures did not practice any form of violence against women. The speakers, one of whom identified herself as a “racialized queer non binary femme,” also invited people to partake in “mindful doodling” if they became distressed by the subjects being discussed….

The keynote address was delivered by trans-identified male Kai Cheng Thom, who focused on the “rise in transmisogyny and violence against queer and trans women globally.” Thom, a writer and former prostitute, identifies as a “non-binary trans woman,” and has contributed an advice column to Xtra Magazine for a number of years. He is also a prison abolitionist, and frequently speaks out against the incarceration of even the most violent criminals.

During his speech, Thom read poetry by a trans-identified male and condemned those who opposed his platforming at the event.

“I am affected to my core by transphobia and misogyny. They keep me up at night, haunting me with questions for which I do not have answers,” he said, later offering words on transgender pediatric care and trans-inclusive washrooms.

The vast majority of Thom’s speech referred back to trans-identified males and their experiences with violence, despite the fact that no trans-identified males have been murdered in Canada since the earliest existing recordings began in 2008.

Women? Any mention of actual women, in an event meant to commemorate the fourteen women killed because they were women? Well, this is Canada. 

This represents the third year in a row where an event commemorating the massacre centered a trans-identified male speaker focusing on transphobia rather than the femicide.

Update: JL at the Glinner Update – Hijacking the Murder of Women: Nothing is Sacred to Trans Activists.