Comments on: Back in time: December 6, 1989

By: Jim Hill

Jim Hill — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:40:35 +0000

Sharon,

I happened on your site quite accidentally while searching for something completly unrelated.

Your account of walking in on a burglary at your home was facinating. While I was still a policeman I could only wish for
a witness/victim that was able to remain as calm and have the presence of mind to think like a future witness.

Regarding the “Montreal massacre” you mentioned a comment made by someone at a Tim Hortons. A suitable response would be “obviously your sister was not a student there.”

I think more should be made of the fact that the killer’s name was originally Gamil Garbi and that his mother, a former Catholic nun, was regularly beaten by her Algerian businessman husband, a Muslim who believed that women were chattel and nothing more. These beatings also extended to Marc Lepine as he is now known.

For over 20 years now there have been annual memorials for these victims. I find it strange that the Bluebird fire and its victims are never mentioned. We lost three Maritime girls in that arson along with the multitude of others killed or horribly burned and scarred in numbers far beyond the 14 killed by Gamil Garbi. The Canada/Russia hockey series of 72 pushed the fire off the front pages in a hurry.

By: Bonnie (Morrison) Arnold

Bonnie (Morrison) Arnold — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:53:46 +0000

I so enjoy receiving your newsletters…..keep them coming.
What a way with words and thoughts.

By: Margaret Davis

Margaret Davis — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:34:53 +0000

Sadly, still relevant. And beautifully written, as always.

By: Cicily

Cicily — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:09:51 +0000

Thanks for re-cycling this meaningful article, Sharon.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:48:29 +0000

Thanks for this post, Sharon. It’s excellent. Sharing!

By: Wilf Day

Wilf Day — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:49:08 +0000

I was a school trustee at the time. The massacre was in the early evening of a Wednesday. Our regular board meeting was Thursday evening.

On Thursday morning at 10:02AM the Quebec National Assembly had convened. The Premier had declared three days of mourning, with flags at half-mast on all government buildings.

Thursday afternoon at 1:40PM the Ontario legislature had observed one minutes’ silence. No days of mourning. No half-mast flag. The House adjourned at 6:08PM.

We 15 trustees, part-timers paid $8,000 per year, met at 7:30PM. We had briefly discussed informally the different levels of response. We unanimously felt ashamed of the difference. We unanimously passed a motion to lower all flags at our schools to half-mast the next morning.

The next morning some principals objected. The Ministry of Education had a policy on when to lower flags at schools. It did not mention Montreal students. Faced with an unprecedented event, they asked for precedent.

One woman trustee phoned the rest of us to alert us. We all left our jobs and went to our respective local schools and made sure the flags were lowered.

Twenty years later I am still proud of us 15 trustees.