35th anniversary of the femicides at Polytechnique: Statement of PolyRemembers (December 5, 2024) Tomorrow, on December 6th, like all Quebecers and Canadians, we will be marking the 35th anniversary of the femicides at Polytechnique. Many of us will be on Mount Royal, where the City of Montreal and the Comité Mémoire are inviting us to pay our respects and honour the memory of our 14 missing daughters, sisters and classmates. At this solemn event, we will be accompanied by many dignitaries, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other members of his government. On this anniversary, we will express our gratitude to the Liberal government which, after years of promises, has finally taken a critical step towards eliminating all assault weapons from circulation, in addition to providing concrete timelines to ban large-capacity magazines, implement a preauthorization process for new firearm models and enact C-21 measures aimed at protecting women and children from gun-related intimate violence. By adopting a second Order in Council banning hundreds of existing assault weapons (and committing to finalizing it in the comings weeks), the government aims to complete the one issued in 2020, which excluded numerous models by virtue of two arbitrary exemptions. In doing so, the Liberal government is demonstrating its commitment to complete the ban and buyback of all assault weapons in Canada – consistent with the wishes of most Canadians. We applaud the list of gun control measures announced today, which demonstrate true political courage to prioritize public safety despite enormous pressures from the gun lobby. These crucial and long-awaited concrete steps to reduce gun violence across Canada honour the memory of the victims of the femicides at Polytechnique as well as countless other Canadians who have lost their lives to gun violence. On December 6th, 2024, we will finally gather with a feeling of relief and a sense accomplishment, knowing that our decades-long campaign and the support of so many partners and Canadians has finally paid off, leading to a comprehensive ban on assault weapons in addition to other concrete changes including a freeze on handgun sales. As we continue to remember the 14 women killed by gun violence in the 1989 Montreal Massacre at Polytechnique, we can now say that their lives and memory have inspired profound and lasting change for greater public safety. We thank Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Dominique LeBlanc, Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, along with Liberal MPs Rachel Bendayan and Pam Damoff who both worked tirelessly on this issue. We are now counting on them to finish the job before the next election.
