UBC Okanagan’s memorial fire bowl, For Future Matriarchs, will be lit during a vigil on Monday, December 1, to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
Who: UBCO students, faculty, staff and members of the public
What: 14 Not Forgotten Memorial Ceremony
Where: Engineering, Management and Education (EME) Building and Amphitheatre, 1137 Alumni Avenue, UBC Okanagan
When: Monday, December 1, noon to 1 pm
UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering invites the community to attend the annual 14 Not Forgotten memorial ceremony on December 1 to honour the women whose lives were lost in the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre.
“It is deeply important to us as engineers, learners, teachers and human beings that we continually honour the memory of the 14 women who lost their lives,” says Dr. Will Hughes, Director of the UBC Okanagan School of Engineering. “We invite everyone to join us in standing together against gender-based violence in our society.”
The campus’s memorial fire bowl, For Future Matriarchs, will be lit throughout the event. The piece incorporates symbolic elements, including Quebec’s blue flag iris, traditional plants of the Syilx Okanagan Nation and Interior Salish basketry aesthetics.
The fire bowl—created by internationally recognized Syilx artist Krista-Belle Stewart and Secwépemc artist Tania Willard, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts in UBCO’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies—will be lit from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm and again from 3:45 to 5 pm on December 1.
An indoor memorial will also be on display in the EME Building foyer throughout the day.
UBCO’s 14 Not Forgotten Memorial commemorates the École Polytechnique tragedy that took place 36 years ago and honours the lives and legacies of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people.
On December 6, 1989, an armed man entered an engineering classroom at Montréal’s École Polytechnique. After separating the men from the women, he opened fire—killing 14 women and wounding 10 others.
In response, Canada established December 6 as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, a reminder of the gender-based violence that persists today in Canada and around the world.
December 1 is part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, a global campaign that runs from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to Human Rights Day on December 10.
For details about UBCO’s 14 Not Forgotten event, visit: events.ok.ubc.ca/event/14-not-forgotten-memorial-ceremony
