The Wavelength
Monday December 1st, 2025 with Joe Reilly
We mark the 36th anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre in songs that were written in response to the event and in songs that call for and end to misogyny and for us to work together to build a better world - for everyone!

Every year I try to mark the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre in music here on CKCU-FM. The 36th anniversary is approaching (it is this Saturday, December 6th) so we mark it this evening in songs that recall that horrific event, call out misogyny and violence towards women, tell the stories of women and hopefully challenge us all to stand up against the patriarchy and misogyny whenever it raises its ugly head. (I always remembered this important date when I was doing the show live from our studios at Carleton University because the Women's Centre at Carleton always put together a beautiful memorial to the 14 women killed on Dec. 6 1989. It was in the stairway of the Unicentre and served as an effective reminder of what had happened and how we all need to work together to make the world a more equitable place that is safe for everyone.) We remember the Montreal Massacre tonight with songs that were written in direct response to that horrific event on December 6, 1989 and other songs that remind us that there is still plenty to do in order to make the world a better, safer and more accepting place for women and ultimately for all of us! So the music tonight is to mark the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre - on December 6, 1989 a gunman entered the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and separated female engineering students from the men, told the men to leave and then started shooting the women. He then rampaged through the campus, shooting more women until he took his own life. In all 14 young women died. We remember this outrageous act today and remind ourselves that while things are getting better for women there is still a great deal of work to do. And we remember the loss of life that happened on that day and the losses suffered by the families of these women. Geneviève Bergeron Hélène Colgan Nathalie Croteau Barbara Daigneault Anne-Marie Edward Maud Haviernick Maryse Laganière Maryse Leclair Anne-Marie Lemay Sonia Pelletier Michèle Richard Annie St-Arneault Annie Turcotte Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre https://cfc-swc.gc.ca/commemoration/vaw-vff/remembrance-commemoration-en.html We can all hopefully do better as we move forward - and there is a lot to do to make the world a better place fighting other societal challenges like poverty, racism and inequity in general. During the show, I made reference to an opinion piece published in 2018 by Tracey Thorn (of Everything But The Girl) about being a woman in the music industry and the kinds of comments she has had to endure from male writers over the years. Here is a link to that piece: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2018/04/not-technically-beautiful-she-has-engaging-laugh-35-years-being-described-men Here is the Wikipedia page about Nina Simone's Four Women: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Women_(song)