Beams of light pierced the sky above Mount Royal on Dec. 6, offering a solemn tribute to the 14 women killed in the 1989 École Polytechnique shooting — a tragedy that remains deeply rooted in Montreal’s collective memory more than three decades later.
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Montrealers gathered at the Kondiaronk lookout, in front of the Mount Royal Chalet, as the annual light installation illuminated the night.
The City of Montreal, in collaboration with the Comité Mémoire and Moment Factory, lit the beams for the 12th consecutive year to honour the victims of the anti-feminist attack.
At 5:10 p.m. — the moment the first shots were fired — the beams rose one by one, each appearing a few seconds apart as the victims’ names were read. A fifteenth beam shone in memory of all victims of femicides.
Family members, friends, survivors and dignitaries attended the ceremony, including Prime Minister Mark Carney and Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada.
The crowd stood in silence, observing a minute of reflection as the sky brightened above them.
The events of Dec. 6, 1989, remain among the darkest in Canadian history.
Fourteen women were killed and 14 others injured in an act of targeted, gender-based violence that shook the country and continues to shape national conversations about misogyny and safety.
Polytechnique remembers the 14 women whose lives were cut short on Dec. 6, 1989:
Their names — spoken aloud and carried into the sky by narrow columns of light — anchored the ceremony in both memory and purpose.
Reaching nearly two kilometres above the city, the installation has become a defining symbol of remembrance.
The beams were visible across Montreal, offering not only a tribute to the victims but also a quiet expression of resilience — a reminder that the city remembers, mourns and refuses to forget.
