The annual candlelight vigil to mark the Montreal Massacre in Chilliwack is returning to base of the Chilliwack Museum stairs on Dec. 6.
Organizers at the Ann Davis Transition Society decided to restore the candlelit tradition at that central downtown location for 2013.
"We will be honouring the 14 young women whose lives were snuffed out because they were women, but Dec. 6 also represents an opportunity for everyone to reflect on the phenomenon of violence against women in our society, and how to prevent it," said ADTS board chair Kathy Clement.
On Dec. 6, 1989, 14 young women at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal were killed because they were women. The lone gunman made a point of separating the male students from female students before starting his murderous rampage.
As a result, Dec. 6 was chosen to become the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada by an act of Parliament in 1991.
In recent years, many groups and individuals reflect on more recent and local phenomena to remember and honour the many missing and murdered women, from the Trail of Tears to across Canada.
At the Chilliwack vigil, at Dec. 6 at 5 p.m., the names of the 14 women will be read out and remembered. Everyone is asked to bring a candle.
The victims of the massacre include:
Geneviève Bergeron (1968), civil engineering student
Hélène Colgan (1966), mechanical engineering student
Nathalie Croteau (1966), mechanical engineering student
Barbara Daigneault (1967), mechanical engineering student
Anne-Marie Edward (1968), chemical engineering student
Maud Haviernick (1960), materials engineering student
Maryse Laganière (1964), budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department
Maryse Leclair (1966), materials engineering student
Anne-Marie Lemay (1967), mechanical engineering student
Sonia Pelletier (1961), mechanical engineering student
Michèle Richard (1968), materials engineering student
Annie St-Arneault (1966), mechanical engineering student
Annie Turcotte (1969), materials engineering student
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz (1958), nursing student